Two elections and a dinner

First election was for Chair of the Parliamentary Party. This was interesting because this position is always announced by the Leader - with a footnote to say that the position is ratified by the parliamentary party. To date this has never been challenged and past Chairs have been Malcolm Bruce, Mark Oaten and Matthew Taylor. each have fulfilled this role in very different ways.

Before my holiday there were rumblings that Phil Willis was going to put up a challenge but returned to discover that it was Matthew Taylor v Paul Holmes.

Paul won and this seems to be widely interpreted as a warning that the party must be democratic at all levels of the party.

Then had to return to Romsey on the Thursday to support the Town Council by-election and to attend the funeral service of Bob Waller.