Labour have made much of their Copeland candidate Gill Troughton’s NHS links, billing her as a doctor and surgeon. Well, sort of. According to her LinkedIn profile Troughton was a junior doctor at Kent and Canturbury Hospital for eight months in 1991, then a junior surgical doctor at Frimley Park Hospital for another seven months until February 1992. After that she gave up the medical profession for a career as a school governor and councillor, though she has been a St John’s Ambulance volunteer since 2012. There is no Gillian Troughton in the General Medical Council’s list of Registered Medical Practitioners. Not quite the lifelong NHS career they’d have you think.

UKIP have trumped Troughton with their own candidate Fiona Mills, who has worked for the NHS for 24 years, most recently as an accountant where she “worked closely with clinicians to try to deliver quality services for patients and value for money for taxpayers”. Not exactly a nurse, though at least she’s worked in the NHS for more than a few months. Obvious why both parties are claiming strong NHS credentials, the local Keswick Hospital is a key issue for Copeland voters…