Yesterday Laura Pidcock put us all out of our misery, confirming she won’t be attempting a return to parliament via her old seat of North West Durham. She claimed it’s because she wants to focus on “grassroots activism, campaigning and the trade union movement. Laura may not have been telling the whole truth, however…

Guido’s picked up a copy of Labour’s response to the forthcoming boundary commission reforms to constituencies. While the quango’s current proposals make some small changes to Laura’s old constituency, Labour has very different ideas. They want to abolish the seat entirely, dividing it into 4 new constituencies. The kicker? They’d move Laura’s house into the safe – and already occupied – Labour seat of North Durham…

Why would Labour want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in North West Durham? The boundary commission’s proposals would give the seat a modest 1,000 Labour majority, yet the party wants to abolish the seat entirely. Might it be that Laura got the hint…