Peter Rhodes on postal votes, premature adulation and who'll be the new John Prescott?

My abiding memory of the 2024 General Election was a lady in our local shop singing the praises of the postal vote which enabled her to cast a ballot days before she was off on holiday. But in the fast-moving world of modern elections, with new stories breaking every hour and allegations sprouting every day, what of the time-lag?

Here's the scenario. You apply for your postal vote, make your mark on the form and it is duly locked away at your local town hall. And then, in the days between casting your vote and election day, scandal erupts. Oh, shock, horror, mayhem and misery. The candidate you believed to be honourable and upright, and for whom you have already voted, is revealed as (for the sake of argument) an adulterer, a sex pest, or possibly a cannibal. And while your stay-at-home neighbours have time to change their minds and vote against the swine, your vote stands.

How many postal voters watched in dismay in the closing days of the campaign as their choice was shown to be a complete rotter? How many dodgy MPs have been elected as a result of premature adulation?

Anyway, Keir Starmer has proved what Tony Blair proved in 1997, that it is perfectly possible for a Labour prime minister to triumph, so long as he looks a bit like a Tory. The question now is who among Starmer's lieutenants will fill the role once filled by John Prescott, of looking, sounding (and occasionally punching) like a genuine working-class character?

I daresay a fancy title awaits the lucky comrade. And possibly a couple of Jags.