It looks like we've got more readers than we thought.

Apparently as a result of Gregg Beaman's excellent post about the grasping, money-grubbing MP Geraldine Smith, we've received the following email:

Dear Sir,

It has come to our attention that there is a link to one of our Standard Notes, about all women shortlists, on your blog site. Regrettably the table erroneously listed Geraldine Smith as being selected as a candidate at the 1997 general election as a result of being on an all women shortlist. I gather that this mistake has caused Ms Smith some embarrassment and we are very sorry that this has happened; the corrected note is now available at http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snpc-05057.pdf.

Yours sincerely,

Isobel White

Isobel White
Parliament and Constitution Centre
House of Commons Library
1 Derby Gate
London
SW1A 2DG

.............................

Fair enough. On behalf of the North West Branch of the Libertarian Party, I would like to withdraw the allegation that the grasping, money-grubbing MP Geraldine Smith got her job as a result of being on an all-women shortlist, and apologise if this has caused any offence or embarrassment to the greedy Ms Smith.

Of course you have to admit that it's an easy mistake for anyone to make, as the Labour Party do still make a habit of selecting some of their candidates on the basis of what's between their legs instead of what's between their ears - as demonstrated by current events in Wigan.

In the Libertarian Party, we're more interested in brains than plumbing, and we select our candidates accordingly. The Labour Party apparently see things differently.