Labour Candidates

Jon Harvey revealed that his rival on the shortlist for the Labour nomination for Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner is Tim Starkey.

Sue Pearson has joined the ranks of the longlisted Labour hopefuls in Northumbria, and in Leicestershire, City Councillor Sarah Russell has been selected as the Labour candidate, without the need for a ballot of members.

Cllr Shaun Wright has told TopOfTheCops he is on the Labour Shortlist for South Yorkshire, and as that is not the end of the road, it suggests there are more people on that list – readers, please feel free to let us know who else has made it!

Lee Barron and Mike Caseman-Jones have been shortlisted for Labour in Northamptonshire.

Keith Hunter and John Prescott are at least two of the names on the Labour shortlist in Humberside.

Paul Gleeson is one of the two shortlisted Labour candidates for Lincolnshire.

The Liverpool Echo’s David Bartlett has summed up the race to win the Labour nomination in Merseyside, where two former Ministers and the Chair of the Police Authority are battling it out. Like Highlander, there can be only one!

Conservative Candidates

On the Conservative side, former Navy Commodore Tony Hogg is considering standing in Devon & Cornwall, though the article is not quite right in saying he would be the only candidate from outside politics, as regular readers will be aware of another ex-military man there, Paul Biddle MBE.

In Bedfordshire, Richard Stay, now no longer running, had pleasure in backing the application of Central Beds Councillor Tom Nicols.

Councillor Mike O’Brien was rumoured to be pitching for the Conservative nomination for PCC in Kent, leading to comments from a local politician on the other side. (hat-tip Jon Collins)

Andrew Povey, possible Conservative contender in Surrey, tweeted “Did you see Brian Paddick on pension of £62k;retired in his 40’s. Can the police budget afford to be so generous?” Hope he sticks to the speed limit!

Other candidates

Lembit Opik is practically begging LibDems in Newcastle to decide to field a candidate, as he would prefer to run as LibDem than as an Independent. No, I didn’t understand that either, but an article on LibDemVoice mentioned that in some areas of the country there were moves to select a LibDem candidate.

Simon Weston’s website is warming up for a launch in South Wales. Apparently, they are just waiting for the domain name to transfer.

Meanwhile in London

Nigel Farage has declared that “Ken is dangerous and unsuitable as Mayor: UKIP supporters should put Boris second on the ballot paper.” but he hopes that Tory voters will respond by voting for UKIP in the London Assembly top-up list, to keep out the Greens.

Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem Candidate has published his manifesto online, including his commitment to do the Police and Crime Commissioner bit himself, rather than giving it to a deputy.

Other news

Those of us who have bemoaned the decision by the Government not to distribute booklets with PCC candidates election addresses, can at least take comfort from the fact that election communications won’t be censored by the Council’s Chief Executive, as has happened in the Liverpool Mayoral election.

The Local Government Association has published what it calls ‘guidance’ on Police and Crime Panels. Please don’t mistake this for the statutory or even non-statutory guidance sometimes issued by Ministers. The LGA only thinks it runs the country.

Cheshire Police are recruiting new Police Constable’s if you wish to join the service.

Sussex PCC hopeful Paul Richards got all misty eyed this week talking about believing in Labour through the hard times. Does he just mean hard times as in “when the party asks you to support Ken”, or was he thinking of all the people the party has offended while operating their PCC selection procedure? His emphasis on Faith and Labour seemed this imply Labour is currently testing the faith of its supporters.

And finally…

Lancashire police were looking for witnesses to an armed robbery at Kenny Hives off licence in Skelmersdale, which from memory was a pretty regular feature of life back when I was a PC there. Sadly, some things haven’t changed.

The Police Federation have been distributing posters entitled ‘March in London’, which go on to say how the event is in May, in London. I don’t think that’s what my former colleagues would call “bobby-proof”.

And if you think that Michael Crick seems to have gone awfully quiet on the PCC front, perhaps it’s because he’s been stamp-collecting. No, it’s not a sudden conversion to philately, but as he explains “I’ve just bought 400 1st class + 600 2nd class stamps from Coniston post office. More to come. By far the best investment going right now.” As the Royal Mail is privately owned, is such a blatant attempt to beat price rises a form of tax avoidance?