Prospective Parliamentary Candidates...

I'm watching the Morley & Rothwell election with a strong interest, as whilst it is regarded as a safe seat, on the local scene Labour have been progressively turfed out from the Town and City Council in the Morley South & North area.

I'll state my position right now- I want Labour out big time, they are the most manipulative, arrogant, bullying, unpleasant, illiberal, intolerant political party we have had for as long as I can remember. When you take stock of the erosion of our civil liberties since 1997 then you suddenly realise that we are little green frogs in a cooking pot and we haven't really noticed how hot it is getting. I want to turn the gas off!

But... I don't want the Conservatives back in, they are almost as bad. The lib Dems seem to change the story according to the audience. I don't want a choice between slightly different flavours of big government where the state is king wasting our money whilst we progressively stifle all our businesses with ridiculous rules and regulations.

If I don't want Labour or Conservative to win that means a hung parliament. This is anathema to the political parties as that means no overall control & control is what the multi-headed hydra craves most of all.

So, who do I have a choice of voting for?

Well, the first PPC announced in the local rag a month or two back was Chris Beverley of the BNP. I find many of their policies rather unpleasant, however I find the anti-BNP campaigns by the unions just as bad because it is based on stifling their right to free speech when the correct approach (or at least mine) is of course polite indifference. I had a very good conversation with one of their senior guys on Town Council polling day last year and he was perfectly charming & made his arguments well. He also gave me his perspective on the TV expose' that had happened a week or two before (he had been in it for one sentence). I have only exchanged one sentence with Criss Beverly personally as we shook hands after my election (he came second & Labour third) & I could tell that he was gutted but he was polite and congratulated me. I can't see an obvious Biography for CB online, although I did enjoy watching their patriotic pride downloadable video where all of the candidates look very photogenic, unlike some of the clan drinking outside the Queens in Morley last Summer (it looked like a convention of nightclub bouncers).

The second PPC announced earlier this week was Nick Vineall for the Conservative Party. An affable enough chap with an impressive CV & I was surprised to find myself sharing a table with him at the Mayor's charity Ball last night. There was a certain amount of good natured ear bashing went on and my parting words were "Good luck... but don't hold your breath!"

No mention yet of our sitting MP, Colin Challen, although a dip into the Labour site confirms that he is indeed their selected PPC. Maybe you ought to let the Morley Observer know Colin? (He probably has, but it may have been bumped at the last minute to cover a local story about a missing tortoise or something).

Nothing heard from the Lib Dems, although their website gives a Stewart Golton as their PPC.

I don't know yet about Respect, UKIP, Veritas & Monster Raving Looney (& frankly can't be bothered to find out today as I was up late last night).

The question of the day is whether the local independent fraternity are going to spring a surprise candidate upon us. I know there is likely to be one, as I was asked if I would be the 10th signatory on a nomination form. My answer was yes, although I did point out that who I chose to put the pencil X next to on the day was of course between myself and the ballot box (& of course the Security Services IT systems). It costs a deposit £500 for a candidate to stand, the PPC gets it back if they poll enough votes (5%).