Reverse chicken runs

[timrollpickering]

ISTR Gordon was the seat that would have delivered a majority of 1 on a uniform swing. However Salmond was at the top of the North East list.

www.heraldscotland.com/news/12773616.North_East_Scotland__List_candidates/

Salmond's proposed dual candidacy prompted Labour to howl fake moral outrage about dual candidacies and propose to ban the option before the election. But the fact that it was hard to disguise this was motivated by stopping Salmond derailed the plans (although it passed for Wales).

[neilm]

Sproat was known as Deep Sproat, wasn't he?

[Chris from Brum]

Apr 21, 2018 1:26:54 GMT neilm said:

Sproat was known as Deep Sproat, wasn't he?

To Private Eye, at least.  This was presumed to be an allusion to the events that led to him changing his seat, but the details have never been made public, so this is pure speculation

[john07]

Mar 28, 2018 15:15:08 GMT martinwhelton said:

The reason he ran in South Hams is that you got enhanced redundancy from the House of Commons if you lost your seat in the election and it didn't matter if it was different to your existing constituency.

Frank Hooley did much the same after being deselected in Sheffield Heeley. He contested Stratford-upon-Avon to secure his redundancy payments.

[greenhert]

As did Eric Sever when he contested Meriden (whose most Labour-friendly parts had been moved to North Warwickshire, which was won by the Conservatives) after being deselected in Birmingham Ladywood the same year (1983).