News 18 April 2005
Keys claims another defection
Hot on the heels of David Shayler standing down in favour of Reg Keys, Derek Cattell, a Sedgefield Labour Party Executive Committee member, announced that he was resigning from the Labour Party to join the campaign to elect Reg Keys.
Of course, defection is the wrong word for David Shayler's action - it was just tempting to use the word in the context of an ex-MI5 agent. But defection is probably the right word for Derek Cattell's move.
After all, Derek Cattell has been a member of the Labour Party for 30 years and a member of the Executive Committee of Sedgefield Labour Party for about ten years.
The writing was on the wall as far back as November 2003 when George Bush came to Sedgefield. Derek Cattell spoke of his disquiet at the time. He told the Northern Echo:
"Like many Labour Party members I'm very uncomfortable with this visit from the President who could not be more diametrically opposed to the ethos of the Labour Party."
Meanwhile ... Times journalist, Tim Hames, threatens to walk the streets of Sedgefield dressed as a pork pie."
In an opinion piece in The Times today, Tim Hames wrote:
"Mr Blair repeated his previous assertion that this would be his last election and his final term in office. When pressed by journalists on whether he therefore intended to serve right up to the dissolution of the next Parliament, he replied, to quote precisely: Yes. When I say a full term, that is exactly what I mean.'
" ... I am willing to put in print now that if Mr Blair is still in 10 Downing Street a few months before the next polling day, I will spend part of that election period walking up and down the streets of his Sedgefield constituency dressed as a pork pie."
This page is part of our Sedgefield 2005 section.