Friends Like These
The veteran Labour MP for Great Grimsby, Austin Mitchell (80), has announced that he is standing down from his seat at the next general election.
The Guardian reports that his decision comes after rumours that he was intending to stand down to free up the safe Labour seat for a particular individual, Melanie Onns, formerly a senior official at the Labour Party head office in London.
So I will be interested to see what happens because the practice of 'parachuting' favoured candidates into safe seats is not at all unusual in the People's Party and sometimes ends very badly.
In making his announcement, Austin, who occasionally suffers from foot 'n' mouth disease, couldn't resists a swipe at the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, saying that "He needs to get out more and mix with ordinary people."
Which is a very odd thing to say if you ask me, because Ed has been a politician and MP for years - and leader of the Labour Party since 2010.