Paul Waugh loses Rochdale selection 

It’s the race that has had all of Westminster gripped. No, not the Republican presidential primaries in New Hampshire; nor the mayoral contest between Susan Hall and Sadiq Khan. Instead, all eyes this week have been on Rochdale, where the local Labour Party today met to decide their candidate for the forthcoming by-election. The contest is being held following the sad death of the incumbent Labour MP Tony Lloyd, who won it in 2019 with a majority of 9,968.

The three-man shortlist for the Rochdale selection attracted particular interest from the parliamentary lobby after it was revealed that longtime member Paul Waugh had thrown in the ring. Waugh, the chief political commentator for the i newspaper, was born and raised in Rochdale and announced his candidacy after a few days of agonising over whether to leave journalism. But in a surprise result, Rochdale members voted to reject the veteran hack and instead plumped for Azhar Ali on the first round of voting.