As a follow up to my recent post on the Eastleigh byelection I thought I’d check out the candidates, who were announced today. 12 men and 2 women are vying for the post so, who have we got?
The top four candidates
- MIKE THORNTON – Liberal Democrats
Thornton is the obvious sort of choice for the Lib Dems. a local councillor since 2007. I’m told every council ward in the Parliamentary seat is held by the Lib Dems and as scandalous resignations impact byelections votes less often than you might think Thornton has a reasonable chance of being elected.
Being active in his local church should help him get some divine intervention for his less taxes / more public services priorities.
Find him on twitter here.
MARIA HUTCHINGS – Conservative
Hutchings managed to start her campaign with a splash with over whether she had said Labour had done more for “immigrants, the gays, the bloody foxes” than kids with special needs. A traditionalist she has said that she would have voted against equal marriage and appears to have strong views on Europe. It’s unclear whether Cameron would like her to get elected or not!
Hutchings stood for the seat in 2010 and has a local track record which means in a tight race she is a definite contender for winner and, I suspect, she will edge it in the end.
Find her on twitter here.
JOHN O’FARRELL – Labour
John O’Farrell is the surprise, out of the blue cnadidate for Labour. No track record in the area (I don’t even know if he’d been there before) he is however moderately famous having worked on Spitting Image and Have I Got News For You among other comedy shows. He also wrote the excellent political biography Things Can Only Get Better
While he’s definitely got an uphill struggle on paper it’s possible that a little bit of stardust might just give Labour’s campaign enough zing to make a real contest of it – I’ve even looked up the price of trains to Eastleigh myself.
Conservative ex-blogger turned radio host said that he is “the sort of Labour candidate that doesn’t frighten the horses. He looks a bit like a Tory and can sound like one. If he runs an insurgent campaign he could do very well indeed.” Which may well be true. However, he has laid out his reasons for standing here, which might be enough to frighten a little horse – perhaps a kebab’s worth.
O’Farrell tweets here.
DIANE JAMES – UKIP
A good test for UKIP’s real purchase with the electorate Nigel Farrage has wisely kept his distance allowing local girl Diane James to take a run at it. Well I say local, she’s a Surrey councillor, which is sort of in the vicinity, a bit. Like all the other candidates she’s emphasising how trustworthy she is and how much integrity she has, which I can’t imagine will go down that well with Lib Dem voters frankly.
Predictably she’s got a thing about immigration and, well, Europe more generally. Against a right-leaning Conservative I wonder whether she have difficulty making the kind of jump UKIP have seen elsewhere.
She does not appear to tweet, so don’t vote for her.
Also, in places five and six;
MICHAEL WALTERS – The English Democrats – “Putting England First!”
Walters has stood for election in Kent and Dover previously and… that’s about all I can find out about him. He raises money for the British Legion and organises Remembrance day services too.
The sole far-right candidate this election is another opportunity to show how irrelevant this sort of politics is by ignoring them. I still put him in the top six in my predicted placement.
- DR IAIN MACLENNAN – National Health Action Party
Until very recently the selected Green Party candidate for the seat this former GP is standing for the National Health Action Party. Another local boy (that’s the third one so far) he has recently retired, which freed him up to do a bit of politics.
I don’t know if he specialised in bottoms while working for the NHS but he seems to give them undue prominence in this speech he gave at a south coast anti-cuts demo. Takes all sorts.
While the Mid Staffs NHS scandal will have pushed health up the agenda a little I’m not sure if there’s a local NHS campaign of the size and strength to catapault him into the heady heights of deposit saving territory when most people concerned about the health service will be voting Labour anyway. Still, best of luck to him as he seems a good sort.
Also (pointlessly) running to get less than 2% are;
- COLIN BEX – Wessex regionalists, DAVID BISHOP – Elvis Loves Pets Party, JIM DUGGAN – Peace Party, RAY HALL – Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party, HOWLING LAUD HOPE – Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party, KEVIN MILBURN – Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship”, DARREN PROCTER – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, DANNY STUPPLE – Independent (anti-gay marriage).
By the way, has the Monster Raving Loony Party taken sponsorship from William Hill? I think that taking privatisation in politics a little too far frankly. Tossers.