Friday brief: Will Michael Ellis make a surprise return on a ballot paper?
Rumours the former Northampton North MP wants to make a ‘chicken run’ to the safer seat of Daventry and other news from across the county
There are rumours that former Northampton North MP Michael Ellis is trying to get on the nomination list for the Daventry constituency.
The former MP and ex attorney general, who was knighted last year, made a surprise announcement last week, when he posted on social media a letter he had written to chair of the Northampton North Conservative Association Jamie Lane, saying that he would not be seeking nomination to stand in the constituency in July’s general election.
Many assumed this would be the end of his parliamentary career, but NN Journal has been told by a reliable source that the Northampton local, is attempting a ‘chicken run’ (the term used when a politician tries to switch to a safer seat) and has spoken to tory HQ about getting his name on the nomination list for Daventry. Political journalist Michael Crick, who has a X account called Tomorrow’s MPs, has also made public the rumour.
The Daventry constituency is seen as one of the safest in the country and has belonged to fellow Conservative Chris Heaton-Harris since 2010. Earlier this month Heaton-Harris, who was the Northern Ireland secretary, said he was stepping down to pursue new challenges.
However in his ‘resignation letter’ Michael Ellis said his decision was ‘extremely difficult’ but made no mention of leaving politics. He said: “I hope to find other ways to continue in public service”, so he has seemingly left the door open for a return.
Our source said the news was being welcomed by some, who saw him as an election winner, but others in the party think it is unfair and he should have stayed with his constituency.
We have attempted to contact Michael Ellis to put some questions to him but have not had a response.
Labour’s Lucy Rigby has been campaigning in the Northampton North area for several months and is seen by many as the strongest contender. Another name on the ballot will be Independent Paul Clark, as well as Anthony Antoniou for Reform UK and Chris Leggett for the Liberal Democrats.
The election takes place on July 4.
General election news in brief
Wellingborough byelection loser Helen Harrison has not been given another chance to try and win the constituency held for many years by her partner Peter Bone.
Harrison, who is a councillor on the North unitary, was soundly beaten by Labour’s Gen Kitchen in the February Wellingborough and Rushden byelection, but had hoped to get the nomination.
However she did not even make the shortlist and unknown David Goss has been selected by the tories to try and win the seat.
Goss, who is a Buckingham councillor, will have to go from a standing start and may face problems trying to get the vote out, as the association is led by many of Harrison and Bone’s friends and our source told us that Bone is ‘incandescent with rage’ that his partner did not get the nod.
Harrison has been out campaigning in Wellingborough and Rushden in recent weeks in the expectation she would be the candidate.
Reform UK’s Ben Habib, who came third in the byelection will be given another chance in the general election. Gen Kitchen will be standing again, having served just 100 days in parliament.
News in brief
West Northants unitary cabinet member Phil Larratt has been suspended from the Conservative group following accusations of ‘improper conduct’.
A statement from the council said:
“We have been informed by the Conservative Group that the whip has been withdrawn from Cllr Larratt for up to 21 days whilst an investigation takes place. They have also confirmed that Cllr Larratt has been stepped down from his Cabinet duties during this period and alternative arrangements are being made for these responsibilities during this time.”
No public detail has been given about the specific reasons for his suspension, which comes shortly after his long term colleague Jonathan Nunn, had to give up the leadership following new accusations of domestic abuse by multiple former partners.
We have contacted the leader Adam Brown and Cllr Larratt for comment, but have not had a response as yet.
Former school teacher Fiona Beal has been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for murdering her partner.
Beal, 50, was sentenced yesterday after last month admitting murdering long-term Nicholas Billingham during a trial at the Old Bailey. The trial was the second, after the first trial collapsed after it became known that one of the witnesses also worked at the court.
Beal killed Billingham, who had been abusive to her, in November 2021 and then buried him in the back garden of their Northampton home.
She lied to friends and family for months, but her crime was uncovered in March 2022 after she ran away to the Lake District and her diaries were discovered by police after she attempted to take her own life.
Police found his body buried in the garden.
Next week will be the first Indie News Week, and NN Journal will be taking part.
The message of this first ever campaign week, which has been organised by the Public Interest News Foundation, is No News is Bad News. The local news industry has taken a hammering over the past decade, largely due to the advertising funds which paid for the journalism, heading over to social media platforms, and as a result the coverage of the news in our county has radically diminished. The county’s two newspapers moved from daily to weekly and there have been cuts to the local BBC radio service, meaning that it only broadcasts from Northampton for the first part of the day, with late afternoon and evening news coming from the wider region.
So we will be joining with other independent news outlets from across the country to highlight to our readers the state of the local news industry and the importance for you to support local independent news. Local news, that holds people to account and tells the stories of communities that are often neglected, can only be provided if people choose to pay for news. If not it will die, and then No News is Bad News will become a reality. We very fortunately live in a country with a free press, so please help to protect it.
What we’ll be doing
Throughout the week we’ll be sending out a series of articles and also an investigation about where the news in Northamptonshire is coming from.
We’ll be teaming up with Northampton’s local radio station NLive Radio during the week and plan to hold an event on Friday, June 7 at NLive offices in St John’s Street, Northampton, where you can come and meet us, find out more about what we do what we do and hopefully bring us some stories. (There’ll be coffee and cake on offer as well).
We’ll have more details to follow next week. The drop in event will take place from 11am to 3pm.
What you can do to help
We are really thankful to our readers who have supported NN Journal since we began in 2021. We now have just under 3,000 readers who receive our regular newsletters and more than 400 of you pay for what you read and help cover the costs of the journalism. The plan is to be here for many more years to come and to continue with what we have been doing - bringing you original news stories of public interest.
As part of Indie News Week the Public Interest News Foundation will be matching any funds that we raise. So if you take out an annual subscription, that £60 will be matched. We will be using this extra revenue to pay for a team of reporters to bring you coverage of the general election results from across the county. We’ll also have a new link - which you can use to pledge a smaller amount.
So if you were thinking of becoming a subscriber, please save it until Indie News Week, as your pledged pounds will work much harder for us.
We are also keen to grow our subscriber list - which so far has grown organically, through word of mouth as we have not taken out advertisements. Our readers are our best recruiters and so please continue to share us with friends and colleagues.
This Friday brief has been written from Cornwall, where I have been on holiday for the week. Huge thanks to local democracy reporter Nadia Lincoln for her reports on the Nick Adderley gross misconduct hearing. Another of Nadia’s reports from the hearing will be sent out later today.
Odd isn't it? You would expect to see news like this plastered on the front page of the local Chronic - but they've been to busy compiling lists of the top ten traffic lights in the town and seem to have run out of space for "news". Meanwhile, the idea that Mr Ellis wants to inherit Reg Prentice's old seat says everything voters need to know about him....
Did you meet your "reliable source" in a bar