Vote Blue Go Bean: Tories Select a Wordy Candidate

The Tories have selected the oh so wordy Mr Bean as their candidate for the Didsbury West By-Election (Thursday 29 January). He appears to have been chosen by a committee in a two-horse race. Very likely with a resident of the Longendales chairing it. Local democracy!

The incumbent Lib Dems are yet to announce their candidate, though tongues are of course wagging just a little bit. Li-anne Williams is fresh from getting caught out with a lying campaign and naturally a thumping at the ballot box in Chorlton and still can't do joined up writing, Cheetham Hiller Sufiyan Rana who gave £2500 and suddenly became an Old Moat candidate may have ruled himself out by turning officially Conservative like his brother Sham, and Robert Mackle (no relation): surely too new on the scene to inherit the earth quite so soon?

The Labour selection, between three utterly brilliant candidates naturally, will be made this evening. I'd expect the Greens and UKIP to re-run their candidates - both PPCs if I'm not mistaken. Will the BNP have a go? Not sure they'll get enough signatures for a nomination.

With all three Labour hopefuls relatively spring chickens and the Tory and Lib Dem selections about eleven years old, to judge by their writing, this could be the ward election with the lowest combined age in the history of history. Even with old Gutfiend-Walmsley.

Mr Bean's Story: Part One; Part Two; Part Three. Told you he was wordy.

The result last time was close enough to suggest a close three-way tussle is at least a reasonable possibility under by-election starter's orders, with even Tory Bean an outside chance. If that is he works hard and can nick a couple of hundred votes from the Lib Dem on the back of an albeit faltering Cameroonie revival:

Alden, James (Green) 281; Bean, David Michael (Conservative) 451; Gutfreund-Walmsley, Robert (UKIP) 81; Lennox, Jenny (Labour) 620; Shaw, Graham (Liberal Democrat) 1,283*

Another Mr Bean - actually called Slipper - won for the right in a dirty Oz campaign.