Guido Fawked - Boundary Change Favouritism

Short of real stories to put before their readership - as so often nowadays - the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog decided yesterday to speculate about proposed changes to Parliamentary seat boundaries. Young Dave and his jolly good chaps have suggested reducing the number of MPs to around 600, but not as a means of putting the boot in on Labour, honestly.

The Great Guido talks under-threat MPs ...

So who is The Great Guido concerned about? Well, those Tories who are in favour of Britain leaving the EU, that’s who: “according to Guido’s referendum list there are 12 Essex MPs who will be backing Brexit. Coincidentally, Essex is expected to be a major loser in the forthcoming boundary review. Analysis in today’s Times warns that Priti Patel, [John Whittingdale] and Bernard Jenkin may have to fight over two seats”.

This might concern Staines, but if Jenkin and Ms Patel vanished from the political landscape, very few other people would notice, far less care. But do go on: “Also heavily targeted in the boundary review is the South West, with seats in Cornwall and Devon expected to be merged. Again, this is one of the places you are most likely to find a Leave Tory MP. Declared Brexiteers here include Steve Double, George Eustice, Scott Mann, Sheryll Murray, Derek Thomas, Anne Marie Morris, Geoffrey Cox, and Sarah Wollaston”.

OK, we’ve all heard of Sarah Woolaston, one of the few Outers to have an audience well beyond her Totnes constituency. Anyone else caught the Fawkes eye? “Bully row Outer Lucy Allan could also come under pressure in Telford, with the West Midlands set to lose six seats from their current total of 59. Nadhim Zahawi, who sensationally switched from In to Out, is another West Midlands MP”. Someone’s missing here, isn’t she?

... except for one, that is

The last time the phrase “Boundary Review” was uttered - during the Coalition Parliament - one seat that was set to vanish was the ultra-safe Tory one of Mid Bedfordshire, held since 2005 by (yes, it’s her again) the fragrant and highly creative Nadine Dorries, who also happens to be pals with the Fawkes folks. Have they forgotten about her?

Not a bit of it: just four days ago, there was the Fawkes rabble telling readers “Nadine Dorries has grilled the PM about Guido’s revelation that a pro-EU letter supposedly from FTSE 100 bosses, due to appear in tomorrow’s papers, was actually drafted by a Downing Street civil servant”. There was even a video included with the post, helpfully titled “Nadine v Dave”. So why not tell readers that their pal’s seat is under threat?

Is she not intending to stand next time round? Or is it just another piece of rank favouritism? My Occam’s Razor is pointing to the latter. Another fine mess, once again.