Congratulations to the newest member of Liverpool city council, 22-year old Ellie Byrne, who claimed her own stonking majority in the by-election for the Everton ward seat on Thursday – raking in 925 votes on a 62% share. A seat which, until January, was held by her Labour MP Ian Byrne… her father.

Byrne held the council position alongside his Westminster seat for over two years, presumably because he knew he was the best person for the job. Now his daughter has graduated from university, that appears to have changed, with Ellie soaring to victory without so much as giving an interview to local press and to the dismay of fellow campaigners. An anonymous email from furious Labour activists leading up to the election wrote:

“Does Labour condone nepotism as a way to recruit councillor candidates? To say we are startled by this information, that the candidate for this by-election is actually the daughter of the outgoing councillor, is an understatement.” 

The Labour NEC insists everything is above board, with Ellie selected “based on her own ability“. Byrne senior, meanwhile, has mostly stayed quiet about the whole thing, although just a day after his daughter’s win, Guido noticed Ian claim that Rishi’s ongoing tax headaches proved “his political choices benefit no one but his family & his interests”. Takes one to know one…