On Monday Guido pointed out there were three former Labour MPs standing in Hartlepool: Paul Williams for Labour, Thelma Walker for the Northern Independence Party, and Hilton Dawson for the North East Party. It now sounds like a fourth is entering the race: John Prescott.
Sadly for Hartlepool voters hoping for a campaign punch-up, it’s not, in fact, the former deputy prime minister. Reform UK have announced their candidate will be a local businessman with a similar name.
#CandidateAnnouncements
— Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) March 31, 2021
We are delighted to announce that @JohnPrescottRUK
will be standing as the Reform UK candidate in the #HartlepoolByElection.
A proud father and a self-employed businessman, John will be the strong voice in Westminster that #Hartlepool needs. pic.twitter.com/LxN5El3pnd
Ironically this won’t be the first time Prescott’s gone up against Dr Paul Williams, as he stood as the Brexit Party candidate in the MPs former seat of Stockton South in 2019. Prescott is only the second most amusing name-based political story of the week, after Joanne Anderson was selected by Labour as their Liverpool mayoral candidate, to replace Jo Anderson…
