Poor old Sarah Olney hasn’t had the best of times since her fleeting stint in Parliament was brought to an unceremonious end in 2017. After being dumped back out by Zac Goldsmith, she got a cushy job as Vince Cable’s Head of Staff, only to lose it after just six weeks. She briefly held on to her bumper £68,000 pay packet despite going part time, only to lose that too after another four months. Then she had a visit from the Old Bill a month later over her criminal breach of spending laws in the 2016 by-election. Her one stroke of luck was that the police bizarrely decided not to press charges despite evidence she had been deliberately dishonest, would they have been this lenient with a Leaver?

Olney was hoping to waltz straight back into the role of Lib Dem candidate for Richmond Park – it turns out the local Lib Dems have other ideas. Despite her only losing by 45 votes last time, they’ve deselected her as the candidate and are forcing her to fight against two other candidates if she wants the position back, including David Campanale, an NUJ rep who works for the BBC. Olney’s website expired last month on ‘Europe Day’ – saraholney.org.uk now redirects to the Kingston Independent Residents Group. Looks like it’s not just the local Lib Dems who are happy to see the back of her…