Talk:Peter Soulsby
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[edit] Sources!
The stuff about campaigns being run by various groups and the national party being surprised by Soulsby's win needs sourcing. It would be normal for a by-election to be controlled by the national party, after a few embarrassments in the eighties with inadequate candidates in by-elections Labour decided to enable the national party to overrule the constituency party if necessary, and my opinion is that having to toe the national party line didn't do Soulsby any favours in the by-election. But I don't think anyone was surprised by Gill losing the seat at the general election, least of all Gill himself (who hadn't resigned his council seat, as would be normal for someone who was expecting to remain an MP). This is just speculation without sources for the information (local gossip isn't good enough). --ajn (talk) 07:04, 24 July 2006 (UTC)