Thread by @MrsNickyClark

Have I ever told the story of when I stood to be Labour parliamentary candidate ? Well it was wild….

Basically the Sharks and the Jetts had nothing on the division here at the time. I had lofty ideas on being a unity candidate and as I was the only woman from here on the all women shortlist I thought this is what’s needed here - less raging more hoping to win, that type of caper

So up I pitch and walk straight into a scene from West (Midlands) Side Story…both sides hated me. Which was fine y’know cut and thrust etc etc… I was asked the most unbelievable questions by snarling members who decided I was either a Corbynite or a Blairite…it was a mess. So

Fast forward to the selection after the usual phone banking type stuff more of the factionalism, anyhoo. The funniest bit was selection day with the fan bases on both sides applauded wildly after the speeches of “their” candidates and a little bit of pity applause for me. So

It was a tight race. Not for me obviously I was trying to unify which obviously is never going to fly. In the end the moderate candidate won and true to democracy a week into the 2019 GE the party deselected her. Her face was all over the campaign literature (sharks & Jetts) so

Despite all her work, despite reducing Kawzynski’s majority - year on year of being a candidate,despite being brilliant & intelligent & funny (two other candidates were talking about their holidays & called it cottaging and we locked eyes and couldn’t stop laughing, my point is -

Politics is a really, really, really shitty business. Oh and in case you were wondering I only got 8 votes unity in polarised times is really tough. But it was a learning experience for me, I learnt that politics isn’t for me, or maybe I’m not for it. 🤷‍♀️

PS the conversation went -
“Oh do you like cottaging too? A kindred spirit. Where do you cottage?”
“Oh all over the country and Wales too of course. I mean I’ve been on a cruise but my husband swears by cottaging. He just loves it”
“Mine too”
👍