by Chris McLaughlin
Two high-profile battles for key Labour seats in the party’s north England heartlands are under way before the firing gun has been officially started on the selection process.
In Barrow and Furness, in the north west, the local newspaper has already anointed former Defence Secretary John Hutton’s replacement, sparking rumours of a campaign to parachute in a Downing Street staffer.
In Newcastle Upon Tyne Central, where veteran Labour MP Jim Cousins is standing down, former minister Barbara Roche is set to make her third bid to re-enter the House of Commons. Both contests have provoked speculation that aides to Gordon Brown are determined to sway the decision in favour of one of their own camp.
John Woodcock, 30, has been introduced to voters in Barrow and Furness – majority 6,037 – by the North West Evening Mail as “Labour’s man set to replace John Hutton”. Mr Woodcock was an aide to Mr Hutton – who is standing down – from 2005 and is currently a special advisor to Mr Brown.
Mr Woodcock, who was born in Sheffield, told the paper: “I’ve been bowled over by the response from party members in Barrow since John announced he was going to stand down… it would be an enormous honour to be able to represent the area.”
Mr Woodcock has already been seen knocking on doors in the constituency. Among the other contenders once the selection is opened will be Cat Smith, a leading light in the newly-dynamic Young Labour.
An all-women shortlist may apply to the contest in Newcastle. There are no women MPs between the Tyne in England and Stirling in Scotland. That would produce a strong field with Ms Roche, the former MP for the previously safe Labour seat of Hornsey and Wood Green, which she lost in 2005, as the most prominent. She is expected to receive the support of Unite as she did when recently contesting unsuccessfully Houghton and Sunderland South and Stockton North. In Parliament she was a close ally of Mr Brown.
She would face stiff competition from former Newcastle councillor Sally Young, a charity chief executive and campaigner for Keep the Post Office Public. Tracey Paul, a Labour organiser, could prove a controversial candidate since she is a staffer in the north-east party office. Another candidate is likely to be Joyce McCarty deputy leader of the council Labour group, and prominent anti-BNP campaigner.
If Newcastle – majority 3,982 – is an open contest Nick Forbes, leader of the Labour group and Davey Wood, another councillor and close ally of chief whip Nick Brown, would be in the frame, together with Gareth Myton, an outsider who currently works for Mr Cousins in the Commons, but who is being urged to stand by an online campaign.
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Cat Smith is not a leading light in Young Labour!
She failed to win election to the committee and every other youth election she has contested in the past three years.
Yes but to New Labour she is. it’s those dam voters who do not know…
I think Gareth Myton should get it. He’s a lovely lad, so much nicer than all the others being touted!
And as for the idea of an all-women shortlist, I don’t think my working class brothers in Newcastle Central will like that.
If we want to keep the seat Labour it has to be a man.
I would hardly describe Cat Smith as New Labour. She is very much of the centre left and would be a far better candidate than some brownite lacky! And shock horror shes actually from Barrow – wow, somebody being local and up for selection!
Hello,
Its the ‘real’ Ted Powell here. Not sure who wrote the above comment attributed to me, but I back it 100%!!!
Before some middle class feminist accuses me of being sexist, I want a working class person selected – regardless of whether its a man or a women
I agree man women or alien, so long at they are Labour, not new labour or newer labour or brand new labour, just plain old Labour.
Another local candidate for Barrow and Furness is Jonathan Todd. He was brought up in Cumbria and went to Barrow -in-Furness sixth form. He also has experience of Westminster, having worked for two Labour MPs and is now an economist for Europe Economics. As his campaign says, “Local Roots, National Experience.”
He stands for a new kind of politics in Barrow and nationally, as you can see if you visit http://www.jonathanforbarrow.net/.
He’s working hard to engage with the party members. I’m supporting him, as are a large team, in his efforts to win the selection.