Labour Select Wright

Labour Councillor Iain Wright a newcomer to the political scene has tonight been selected as the Labour Party Candidate for Hartlepool. Councillor Wright won his seat on Hartlepool Borough Council in 2002. He has special responsibility in Hartlepool council's cabinet for performance management, he is a Chartered Accountant who lives in the town.

The freshly selected candidate will be welcomed by Tom Watson MP who has recently arrived in Hartlepool. Mr Watson masterminded Labours wafer-thin-by-election recently in Birmingham and according to local reports he will be deploying extensive resources in the campaign.

Meanwhile this week Labours high command has ordered the handful of local Labour parties who had been planing to select their general election candidates in late autumn to get their skates on and have their candidates in place by the end of September. Perhaps this means that the Sedgfield MP could be planning a general election this autumn. The PM's party conference speech in Bournemouth could be interesting.