On Yer Bike! Austin Wipes Out A Quarter Of His Majority - In A Week
Dudley MP and serial bully Ian Austin was reprimanded by Labour for his abusive behaviour towards colleagues - but it seems he has caused severe offence outside Parliament as well, ending the week with news that he could lose at least 27% of his majority in the next election.
Granted, that only amounts to 6 people, but as his majority is 22, there is a real danger that it could disappear altogether if he chooses to stand again.
Constituents have responded angrily to his call for Labour MPs to consider backing Theresa May's doomed Brexit deal - in effect propping up a failing Tory government.
Austin has managed to virtually obliterate his majority in just two years, slipping from 4181 in 2015 to just 22 in 2017. It's not quite as big a slump as John Woodcock managed in Barrow (4999 - 209) but then it did take Woodcock ten years.....
We find it difficult to believe that there are not at least a dozen other constituents who share similar opinions to the two above - which leaves him in single figures - and even among those who are prepared to put party loyalty first (a foreign concept to Ian) there is a clear groundswell of dissatisfaction with him as a candidate.
On the plus side, he's high up in the running to win the Prole Star's first annual Woodcock medal for services to the Labour political gene pool - and we wish him well in whatever career he chooses in the future....