Should Stewart Jackson’s swimming pool disqualify him from being an MP?

How long should we remember the MPs’ expenses scandal? Should someone who used taxpayers’ money to kit out their home and renovate their swimming pool be allowed a second chance at being an MP? The imminent selection of a Conservative candidate in Sevenoaks raises such questions.

Selections are politics in its most raw and spiteful form. The battles to be nominated in a seat where your party usually wins are the fiercest, nastiest and most consequential that many politicians will ever be involved in. Because selections matter so much – missing out a safe seat can mean your career is over before it begins – the resentments that flow from these battles can last for years and decades.

Right now, both Labour and the Conservatives are doing selections for winnable seats at breakneck speed, due to the sudden agreement to hold an election. Many of those selection battles are being overlooked by national media outlets, who are naturally focused more on the wider national issues at play in the campaign.