Moves for Hull East begin

alexhilton Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 02:26:27 AM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Chris Leslie, former MP for Shipley has indicated that he is interested in replacing John Prescott as the Member for Hull East. Prescott is committed to staying on as MP until the next election but has said he will not seek another term.



Chris Leslie is a former Ministerial colleague of Prescott's and the two are said to have a close relationship. Leslie was MP for the Shipley and narrowly lost the former Tory stronghold in 2005.

He was well known as a hard-working constituency MP and continues to live in Yorkshire. He has recently been in the news after being appointed by Gordon Brown as his campaign co-ordinator.

I was talking to an insider who said, "Chris has never hidden the fact that he would like to go back into Parliament and would love to step into Prescott's shoes, as he has real respect and affection for him. He's still a young bloke and gets on very well with Gordon so he should have a good Ministerial career ahead of him. I'm sure he'd be given a very warm welcome back into the Labour fold if he wins the selection in Hull".

However, John Prescott's son, John Prescott junior, is also thought to be keen on the seat. I don't have any links to JPjr - but if anyone else does, please do try to get him to clarify with us whether he will be standing...

...of course, the selection hasn't yet been announced it could go AWS...


tags: , , , (all tags)

Display: Sort:
Moves for Hull East begin | 8 comments (8 topical)

Why assume that Hull East will not be AWS (#1)

by John51 on Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 08:41:49 AM GMT

Why are all those promoting their candidacy assuming that Hull East will not have an All Women Shortlist.  The party seems keen to impose All Women Shortlists on London seats with large Black and Asian populations (Walthamstow, Ealing Southall, Hackney South, West Ham, Islington South), but overwhelmingly White Northern seats with well connected aspirants always seem to be open. Nearly 40% of London Labour MPs are women, significantly higher than the proportion in Yorkshire and Humber. Seems like Hull East ought to be All women then........


Re: Why assume that Hull East will not be AWS (#2)

by Andrea on Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 10:29:18 AM GMT

If my maths are not wrong, Yorkshire and the Humber has 12 female Lab MPs out of 44 (27.27%): Chris McCafferty (Calder Valley), Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes), Kali Mountford (Colne Valley), Caroline Flint (Don Valley), Rosie Winterton (Doncaster Central), Linda Riordan (Halifax), Diane Johnson (Hull North), Ann Cryer (Keighley), Yvette Cooper (Pontefract), Meg Munn (Sheffield Heeley), Angela Smith (Sheffield Hillsborough) and Mary Creagh (Wakefield).

One of those 12 (Chris McCafferty) is retiring at next GE. An AWS has been decided for Leeds West (39% Lab majority, so pretty safe seat). And I think Chris Leslie's wife was mentioned as a potential contender.


[ Parent ]

Re: Why assume that Hull East will not be AWS (#5)

by alsoleeds on Wed Jul 18, 2007 at 10:18:33 PM GMT

Chris's wife Nicola is no longer contesting Leeds West. Can I ask what is Alex's source. unsourced stuff in comments is fine but an entry should have some sort of source.


[ Parent ]

Re: Why assume that Hull East will not be AWS (#6)

by Andrea on Thu Jul 19, 2007 at 10:58:02 AM GMT

sorry for the mistake regarding Nicola Murphy (does the fact I wrote "was mentioned as contender" instead of "is a contender" count as an excuse?).
I read the NM mentioned in relation to that seat here on a thread about Battle retiring. So who are the main conenders for LW now? I'm sure Alison Lowe was running (she had a website)


[ Parent ]

Re: Moves for Hull East begin (#3)

by TonyH on Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 01:22:03 PM GMT

Alex - There's a mistake there, I'm sure you mean David Prescott - JP's youngest son.

He's now a PR Director campaigning for London State schools and used to be a producer for ITV and an editor for the BBC. He's also a party activist in London.  

I used to work with him, he loves Hull, is often there -I don't know if he's decided to stand but since he's actually grown up in the area and worked there - surely he'll appeal to local people there.


Re: Moves for Hull East begin (#4)

by alexhilton on Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 04:19:19 PM GMT

Very possibly do mean David, sorry


[ Parent ]

Re: Moves for Hull East begin (#7)

by RedJohn on Sat Jul 21, 2007 at 02:43:13 PM GMT

Just because it will not be a Woman Only Shortlist does not mean it must be a man.

 

I am curious Alex, why do you say Chris was an excellent constituency MP? Acording to his parliamentary allowances he hardly spent anything on postage or stationary and he lost his seat when other key seats around the area were fine. 


Re: Moves for Hull East begin (#8)

by alexhilton on Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 09:37:41 PM GMT

Because his local party seem more than averagely impressed with him and I'm taking their word for it. Possibly because was the candidate the only two times Labour has won the seat since 1945.

I might humbly suggest that postage and stationery spending levels may not be the most accurate measure of an MP's effectiveness.


[ Parent ]

Moves for Hull East begin | 8 comments (8 topical)