Something strange is going down in the battle to replace former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in Ashfield where one candidate is to be picked from an all-women shortlist to defend a 10,213 Labour majority. Questions are being asked about the shortlisting criteria after Pam Tatlow, a councillor in Bristol and London for a combined 16 years, twice Westminster candidate and an employee of trade unions most of her working life was left out after interview. While she loyally refuses to talk about it, friends say she is pretty miffed after finding out that her name was initially on the list but later removed. She does admit to being a bit on the left of the party. Meanwhile, glamorous TV politics presenter Gloria de Piero, whose main political qualification has been acting as an events assistant helping Tony Blair get elected in 1997, is exuding confidence. Having given up her GMTV job to fight the selection, she is rumoured to have moved into the area already.
