Woodcock to stand down from No 10

Easy to miss during today's hilarious expenses allegations, a very interesting nugget from the FT's Westminster Blog:

I have it on good authority that John Woodcock, one of Brown’s two spokesmen, is to quit; the move could come soon.

Apparently he wants to stand at the next general election as candidate for Barrow and Furness, John Hutton’s seat. The latter resigned as defence secretary amid the reshuffle excitement of two weeks ago. Woodcock used to be Hutton’s special adviser.

He will spend some time backstage at 10 Downing Street before he starts campaigning later in the year.

Unfortunately for Woodcock, his chances of preserving the seat are far from assured given that Hutton’s majority is relatively slim. Then again, the life expectancy of a Brown adviser isn’t exactly infinite these days.

Woodcock and Michael Dugher became Brown’s joint spokesmen after Damian McBride took a back seat last autumn. It’s fair to say that Dugher has seemed far more enthusiastic in the role.

Interesting to hear about Sheffield-hailing Woodcock's interest in his old boss's vacant seat of Barrow and Furness. Presumably that would, by default, make him one of Parliament's biggest advocates of nuclear bombs. BAE Systems is in line to build the four nuclear subs as part of the Government's plans to replace Trident.

But aren't special advisers becoming MPs and then ministers all part of Parliament's current problems? Peter Oborne made this point a while before the expenses crisis blew up, in his book, The Rise of the Political Class. It's a compelling case, though Oborne comes close to saying the racist, sexist, homophobic old establishment was somehow better (he doesn't necessarily accept it was racist, sexist homophobic).

Not that one of the emblems of the Parliamentary crisis, Michael Martin, could really be described as political class ...