Thursday, May 29, 2008

Mark Oaten to force Winchester by-election?

The Times reports:

David Cameron is preparing to avenge an historic by-election defeat after the Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten confirmed that he was considering leaving Parliament before the next general election.

Mr Oaten, 44, told The Times yesterday that he was talking to potential employers and could leave his Winchester constituency before the expected poll in 2010.
I am not sure that Mark Oaten's historic victory with a majority of 21,556 was a by-election. Wasn't it a rerun of the general election contest?

Anyway, The Times later says:
Contacted yesterday over rumours that he was preparing to depart, Mr Oaten confirmed that he had had meetings in America with a potential employer and said that he had been honest with his colleagues about the possibility that he might leave before the general election.

“There are lots of conversations going on, some involving stuff abroad, some on stuff in this country. I hope that I can leave at the general election but I have been frank about the fact that it might be before that,” he said.
We shall wait to see if anything comes of this before getting too excited or insulting Mr Oaten. Perhaps he just wants to be in the papers again?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope that he at least has the good sense to wait for the result of the Henley by-election be declared before announcing his departure.

Anonymous said...

Would that, I wonder, explain why Martin Tod is the beneficiary of a fundraising dinner in London next week...