Reading Labour selections

What is below is an edited version of a briefing I received from a well-placed political source.  Just sayin'...

The Reading West selection is between Groulef and Debbie Watson in a sort of New vs. Old Labour way (which seems curiously antiquated). Tony Jones is bigging up Richard Davies for East.  East is, according to a "local source", all about the local candidates but West is Labour's priority. (This is no surprise. Ed.) Davies is heavily backed by the 'young' Labour crowd - the new people that have appeared such as Duncan Bruce, who were all over Matt Rodda in 2011 but had ditched him by this year.    Page has been spotted lurking around Rodda but not Woodward.  James Walsh is a nasty piece of work who goes in for dog-whistle homophobic campaigns elsewhere.  But he won't get it.

Reading East - the battle begins

he's behind you, Mr Hunt!

A rather mysterious piece on Tony Jones' blog a little while ago, using the picture to the left, for which he does not credit anyone other than to say the pic was taken at the Leveson inquiry, so I credit only Mr Jones.  In what is otherwise a naked bid for selection for Reading East  considered analysis of the politics of Reading East, Mr Jones informs us that it is quite possible for Labour to go from third to first place in Reading East (how did they get from first to third, Mr Jones?  That attic again!) so long as there is a "strong local candidate" - "strong" being of course code for "male".  What is odd is the picture above.  why would a PPS not be behind his Minister?  And what is wrong with referring to the Leveson inquiry (of which more in a future

Labour candidate for Reading East 2010

post) especially as Mr Salter claims (untruthfully) to have given evidence to it, and the Chronicle Arsewipe has copied out the lies?  Be careful Tony, this could all go horribly wrong.  And if or when it does, you won't want the you-know-what all over your face, now will you?

a girl in Reading East?

my little poll has shown some remarkable developments in the last day or two.  From looking like a two-horse race between Martin Salter and Tony Jones, just as Salter pulled ahead the GIRL tendency surged into the lead, from nowhere,  VERY interesting.  Have there been unforeseen changes in Reading Labour?  I think we should be told.  Last time a GIRL was selected from a non-all-female shortlist - well, we know what happened.  The seat was won from the Tories and held at the next election with an increased majority.  Never again, they said.  We're not having THAT.  Have they come to their senses now, hein?

Reading East Labour: the campaign hots up

Mr Salter was all over Radio 4 yesterday and the day before, being described as Speaker Bercow's campaign manager, and generally touting himself as the political operator you cannot afford to be without.  The Reading boys supported Rob Wilson to win Reading East for the Tories in 2005.  In 2010 they ignored him (as they ignored their Labour candidate of the time, who was locked in Stuart Singleton-White's attic).  In 2015 they will be dying to trash him.  That is why Salter is all over it.  He is informing them that only he can beat the Tory in Reading East.  Seems a pity not to let Tony Jones have a chance at a parliamentary seat, rather late in life, admittedly, but why not?  I do not think they can win it from Wilson anyway.  And what about the younger fellows?

Reading East Labour

my little poll (right) is showing a stand-off between Tony Jones and Martin Salter for Labour candidate for Reading East.  I am a little surprised that Mr Salter is in the running, you'd think he wouldn't want to go back, although I suppose having pretended to represent Reading East for so long he would like actually to do so.  I reckon Tony Jones thought it was his for the taking.  But both of them are, how to put this, past their first youth.  Nothing wrong with starting a new job in your 60s, I intend to do precisely that when I retire from the one I am currently doing - but younger people may well be interested in the role as a career move.  My personal view is that Mr Salter will not go for it, because he knows that Rob Wilson may be expected to hold the seat, however unpopular the coalition is.  But we'll see.

a national exception - it's DEFINITELY different for girls

The National Executive Committee of the Labour Party has met, and my man on that Committee notes the following, especially that the Organising Committee has met to decide on parliamentary selections - it needs to where there is a proposal that the normal rule should not be followed.  The national rule is that where the last Labour MP was a woman the shortlist should be all women.  This was followed in Reading East in 2010, and the latest decision is to depart from that in several constituencies, including Crewe and Nantwich (the late Gwyneth Dunwoody, anybody?), and - you're ahead of me - Reading East.  My fly on the wall at the NEC, nice chap that he is, must buy him a drink next time we meet, comments in this way:

I thought you would be interested to note that Reading East is selecting from an open shortlist. This goes completely against the Labour Party's national policy - re-affirmed only recently, that where the last Labour MP was a woman, the new parliamentary  candidate should  always be selected form an All Woman shortlist.


Well, yes.  Now, who lobbied them?  And why?


Stampede of interested chaps?

Tony Jones- Tory Smear Tactics Won't Stick”

southern comfort?

Independent Jones has put up a "guest post" by Caroline Flint MP.  You can read it here.  It is about her visit to Reading, with MPs Vernon Coaker and Alison Seabeck.  I think quite highly of Caroline Flint, although there are many who do not.  She is a clear thinker and a good communicator, both of which are important in politics.  Vernon Coaker is an all round decent bloke, and has a core of steel, the first of which is to be preferred in politics, and the second of which is essential.  Alison Seabeck, who represents a Plymouth constituency (you have to have something maritime in your name to get selected there I am told), I do not know at all, as we were never colleagues in the House.  Caroline makes the point that to form a government Labour has to win seats in the South.  True of course.  She expresses regret that Reading East was lost in 2005 and Reading West in 2010, in both cases after the departure of incumbent Labour MPs.  She doesn't say that the losses happened not only because of the departure of the incumbent, but because of moves by Reading Labour to secure a Tory victory in Reading East in 2005, and in both constituencies in 2010 to select candidates who were either embarrassing, as was Naz Sarkar in West, or crushed, as was Anneliese Dodds in East - she was kept away from the public and silenced.  Well, why would Caroline mention the above in this context?  I mention it myself because there is a further tale to tell about all that, which will be appearing later this year.  Oh and Cazza, do spell Rose Williams' name right.  It's not an impossibly exotic one or anything after all.  This is getting embarrassing.  I haven't seen a picture of Rose for weeks.

Speaking of forthcoming publications, thanks to all those who have bought my book Priors Gardens.  Mr Amazon doesn't tell you where the people who buy your book live, but there are some indications that it is selling quite well in Reading.  If you want to publish a review, that could be done here as well as on Amazon, and I'd be happy to read any you have.  You twentieth-century types out there may wish to know that the possibility is increasing that Priors Gardens will appear in a print remix later in the year.  Till then, get your copy on the right of this page.  And if you've never tried a Kindle, get one, they are fab.  My mother-in-law, who has Parkinson's, has got back the ability to enjoy books since she was given one for Christmas

This blog is going to have a mini revamp too.  Not (much) in the way it looks, because I like the rather minimalist Blogger style, but somewhat in content and layout, to reflect, oh, you know, our changing times.  It will probably be Easter, when I get a bit of time at home to mess around with such things, before that happens.  It will still be my gaff my rules, but I might allow a bit of guest posting and writing, or I might use a different place for that.  What do readers think?  Let me know, and let me know what kind of pieces you enjoy reading, or would like to see more of.  It's tedious to feel you have to comment, and life is often too short - I rarely comment on other blogs - and the number and location of visitors to the site, and the length of time they spend there (I like Sitemeter very much) doesn't tell you that much.  

the man who wasn't there - again

There was a somewhat bizarre piece by Cllr Jan "Goody gumdrops" Gavin, called "A Day in the Life of a Labour Councillor" - as if anyone cared what time a Labour councillor gets up in the morning.  She says that a group of Labour MPs visited Reading that day to campaign for the increasingly desperate fine team of Labour campaigners in Redlands and Katesgrove.  But, bizarrely, she doesn't name any of them, or use any pictures of them.  She does however use a picture of M. Salter with a couple of bearded gits from Redlands, to my certain and evidenced knowledge stooges bought and paid for a long time ago.  The picture she uses is taken in Katesgrove, but there are no identifiable Katesgrove members in it.  This is undoubtedly because Katesgrove members are refusing to campaign, having taken the view that a candidate has been imposed on them.  They are bonkers to take this view.  Rose Williams is excellent.  However the only pictures of Rose I have seen have been of her alone in an empty street -just the way a candidate should never be pictured.  A message not very thinly disguised.  Katesgrove members probably wanted to select a bearded librarian who thinks members of the public are moronic.  They are plenty mad enough for that.

So, a photograph of the "campaign" in Katesgrove and Redlands which includes neither candidate and no-one from Katesgrove.  High-profile MPs give up their time to campaign in Reading and are ignored.  But we do see Gumdrops Gavin, M. Salter and a couple of bearded gits gurning for the cameras.  Hmmm.

Meanwhile, we are told that M. Salter has been spending a lot of time in Parliament lately, giving evidence to select committees and so on in his role as a paid lobbyist for the Angling Trust.  We also know that he has been spending time gurning for the media in Reading East.  So what has changed since he was an MP?  Not much, except that he spends a bit more time in the House of Commons now than he did when he had a place on the green benches.

M. Salter, paid lobbyist for the Angling Trust.
M. Salter, paid consultant for Thames Water.
M. Salter, paid chairman of a Whitley charity.
M. Salter, a teacher (so he told us a while ago, haven't heard anything about that lately).

What a busy boy.  Pity about the Katesgrove campaign.

update: the gun porn is back!  Coupled with mentions of someone called "Dave Sutton", not a name I mentioned in the post, still, if the cap fits... none of them bothered to explain why the MPs were not named or pictured, and why neither candidate was named or pictured either, they were over-excited by the guns and fanny shots, clearly.  Is there anyone from Reading Labour reading this blog who is over the mental and emotional age of 14 please?  and some of you might be dangerous.  Much more of this and Her Majesty's Police might have to be involved, eh messieurs?

here it cooooomes...

those interested take note of the following, from the Organisation Committee of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party:

The Committee also agreed:


• To trigger a further 14 early parliamentary selections (all 3 seats in Brighton & Hove based on the anticipated new boundaries, Carlisle, Redcar, Crewe & Nantwich, Gillingham & Rainham, Milton Keynes N, Reading E, Bristol S, Gloucester, Cannock Chase, Stafford, Tamworth & Staffs).