Labour’s Wakefield candidate Simon Lightwood has hit the ground running for the by-election campaign, knocking on doors and introducing himself to local residents. Lots of work to be done…
Great to be out today speaking with local residents and introducing myself as their Labour candidate.
— Simon Lightwood (@simonlightwood) May 16, 2022
I’ve lived, worked, studied, bought my first house, and even met my husband in Wakefield.
I love our area. It deserves the best and I'll fight each day to deliver for it. pic.twitter.com/Hza0C6OJaI
He’ll have to knock on quite a few doors though. While Lightwood is busy telling everyone he’s homegrown talent – making sure Guardian readers know “he’s lived and worked in the city for 10 years” – most of the people who greet him at the doorstep will have no idea who he is, at least if his social media posts are accurate. According to his own tweets, Lightwood has lived in the sleepy constituency of Calder Valley since at least 2014 – one of the four constituencies in which he’s unsuccessfully sought the Labour nomination over the last ten years…
In September 2014, Lightwood moaned about receiving “Tory drivel” from the Halifax constituency despite, in his own words, “liv[ing] in Calder Valley”. Even joking that someone should “sit [the Tory candidate] down with a map”…
Received more @allott4halifax Tory drivel today, even though I live in Calder Valley constituency. Can someone sit him down with a map?
— Simon Lightwood (@simonlightwood) September 30, 2014
Years later in October 2020, Lightwood congratulated Susan Hinchcliffe for winning the West Yorkshire mayoral endorsement from “his” CLP of… Calder Valley. Of course, Hinchcliffe ultimately missed out…
Really pleased that my CLP in Calder Valley nominated @SHinchcliffe to be our West Yorkshire Mayor. #Susan4WYorksMayor #CalderValley pic.twitter.com/znQ5z7IHLq
— Simon Lightwood (@simonlightwood) October 28, 2020
Given the fallout from Southside’s candidate selection stitch-up, which saw the entire Wakefield CLP executive resign after their local candidates were pushed out, it’s no wonder he’s now trying to shore up his local credentials. No doubt he had to do the same for Bradford, Loughborough, Scarborough and Whitney…
