Mark Oaten calls it a day

Mark Oaten has announced that he will not stand in Winchester at the next election.

This is not a time for mean-spirited comment - but if by any chance you do want some mean-spirited comment, I recommend Paul Walter or James Graham.

Lord Bonkers, as ever, was prophetic. Here he is writing in March of last year:

At Westminster I encounter a naggingly familiar figure in a grey suit. “Hello,” it says, “my name is Mark Oaten.” I look him up and down. No moccasins, no tomahawk, no feathers, but eventually I recognise him. “Rising Star!” I exclaim, “What have you done to yourself?” “I’ve decided to bin the Red Indian shtick,” he replies. “It was all based on a misunderstanding anyway.” It transpires that someone had told him that he would have to be brave to take on Winchester, and he had heard them as saying he would have to be “a brave”. “Besides,” he adds pensively, “people were starting to call me ‘Tumbling Stick’.”