New boy: Part 1  

AS A GENERAL election approaches, my thoughts turn increasingly to the earlier, less complicated days of my political “career”. A commenter in a previous thread suggested some readers may have some interest in my reminiscences of when I was first elected to the House. Don’t know if that’s true, but it’s fun for me, if nobody else, to reflect. I had never stood for any elected office before the 2001 general election. I had tried ー and failed ー to be selected as a Labour candidate in the 1990 regional council elections (and lessons learned at the time helped me win ten years later), so 2001 was the first time I had had to appoint an agent, attend the count as a candidate, stand on the platform, make an acceptance speech… the whole nine yards, as it were. Before leaving home for the count, Carolyn and I ordered Chinese food for a number of key activists...