This afternoon I attended the hustings to help select the next Labour parliamentary candidate for Ipswich.
I estimated that the attendance was over 130 and with postal votes added, it led to a total of just under 200 people voting. - There has been criticism from certain Tories that the selection meeting should have been open to all. I don't believe they are right and I am going to repost the piece I wrote about the Gummer selection in 2007 so you can compare the two processes.
The 4 candidates all spoke for 10 minutes and then answered questions for 15 minutes, all received similar questions, and the topics included: Europe, strikes, Ed Milliband, Abortion and creating jobs.
I was very impressed with the passion shown by both David Ellesmere and Neil MacDonald. They had to be at their best as Jeremy Miles possessed many of the attributes that made Ken Weetch a great Ipswich MP, Francis Rehal did not impress me with her 10 minute presentation but her strength was answering the questions.
I am sure the 3 losers will go onto other selections and I am positive that Jeremy Miles will become an outstanding MP in another seat. Thinking of what will be best for Ipswich, I hope that Neil does not look for another seat as he would make an excellent leader of the Ipswich Labour once we get David elected to Westminster.
Now the real fight starts - with the St Margaret's by-election giving us an unexpected opportunity to campaign in what once was a Tory safe seat.
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