I have previously reported on the travails of Blair's babes and discussed the wider question of how female-friendly the culture is at the House Of Commons. Blogging councillor Julian Mott reports that his local MP Janet Dean who has represented Burton since 1997 is to stand down at the end of this Parliament. Janet is a bit of a rarity in as much as she has a picture of Tony Blair on her homepage (see right).Janet was selected as a result of an all-woman shortlist selection process. I'm not sure how or whether this impacts on the selection process this time around.
6 comments:
Well, perhaps her departure will provide an opportunity for my pal Andew Griffiths (Conservative PPC for Burton).
It has to be a plus for Andrew. The council results in Burton in May were apparently very encouraging.
The more standing Labour MPs stand down, the better we will do. Gives more of a free fight, particularly with the high "communications expenses" they can now claim.
Whatever happened to that enormous man with yeller waistcoats? claimed to be a lawyer? Ivan Lawrence?
Ivan's not a very big man face-to-face, but he didn't appreciate me bringing up 1997 when I met him.
"Janet was selected as a result of an all-woman shortlist selection process. I'm not sure how or whether this impacts on the selection process this time around."
The general "rule" is that when a female MP steps down an AWS should be used (or female MPs number would go down instead of up!) unless if there are special circupstances to go for an open shortlist (for ex they give an open shortlist to Dewsbury in 2005 when Ann Taylor stood down. IIRC the logic was to give them the highest chance to select a BME candidate).
Post a Comment