So, let's summate;
- the original 1999 list saw nine out of its fifty members get the call, although two more went on to get one eventually
- its 2004 replacement saw just two successful candidates, although that was better than...
- the 2006 list, of which only one member was preferred...
- but not as good as the 2008 list, which has seen five successes, and another from its subsequent 2010 top-up
My calculation tells me that, therefore, there are still thirty-nine names available to the Glorious Leader. That is, theoretically. Sadly, Viv Bingham is no longer with us, following his death in 2012. Meanwhile, John Stevens quit the Party in 2010 to fight John Bercow in his Buckingham constituency, and Jeremy Ambache is now a Labour councillor in Wandsworth, rather ruling them out, I suspect.
On the positive side, Catherine Bearder is unlikely to give up her seat in the European Parliament, thus taking her out of the frame, although even were she to tire of the charms of Brussels and Strasbourg and accept a peerage, her replacement, Antony Hook, would then be out of the frame instead.
But, to be frank, there may not be very many opportunities for anyone left on the list until next year's General Election... and possibly even fewer after that...
On the positive side, Catherine Bearder is unlikely to give up her seat in the European Parliament, thus taking her out of the frame, although even were she to tire of the charms of Brussels and Strasbourg and accept a peerage, her replacement, Antony Hook, would then be out of the frame instead.
But, to be frank, there may not be very many opportunities for anyone left on the list until next year's General Election... and possibly even fewer after that...
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