Stockton North Opens up

The long discussed possibility became a reality today when Frank Cook MP, representative of Stockton North for the last quarter century, announced that he'd parted company with the Labour party and was standing as an independent. So we now have the incumbent standing as independent against the newly selected Alex Cunningham, until recently the cabinet member for children and young people at Stockton Council. As Philip Latham, the Lib Dem candidate in the fight, says "This contest is now wide open and the Liberal Democrats are the only party offering real change based on the principle of fairness for the people of Stockton." Philip did a really good job on his interview with BBC Look North and we look forward to the media interest in the constituency picking up for a while.
I missed the excitement of the announcement by being at a funeral service for a Guiding friend. As so often it was an opportunity for a bit of a catch up with some of the surviving Guiding family, and not a completely sad occasion. A combination of the musical traditions of the Methodist church, Guiding and Tees Valley Youth choir made certain the music was upbeat and uplifting. Typical of Carolyn!