With Labour already being given a 92% chance at the bookies, Tory candidate Nadeem Ahmed is facing an uphill battle in Wakefield, and needs all the support he can get from the local party. Unfortunately for him, he might be in trouble there as well…

It was only in July of last year that Ahmed was unceremoniously booted from his role as Wakefield Council’s Conservative group leader, after losing an anonymous vote of no confidence at a party meeting. According to reports, he just wasn’t up to the job, although at the time his allies disputed that he’d been underperforming. Still, doesn’t exactly look good…

The by-election campaign on the ground hasn’t been great either. A co-conspirator sent Guido one of the Tories’ leaflets posted around the constituency, and it turns out the party don’t seem to know the Wakefield constituency well. The front page boasts of “Getting on with the job in Wakefield“, and then lists Middleton as an area the Tories hope to improve. All well and good – except Middleton is actually 10 miles away, in Hilary Benn’s constituency…