Esther Rantzen's Electoral Crusade.

Can you see what's missing from Esther Rantzen standing in Luton South? It isn't the fact that she might lose badly  - I couldn't care less whether this ends up being a failed vanity exercise. Besides, she might win. After all, there is a precedent for that. And it isn't that she herself is the sort of person who sets my teeth on edge - although she is just that sort of person. But rather, it is the fact that her standing is completely pointless. 

Her campaign pitch appears to be this - she's not Margaret Moran. Whilst I have no time whatsoever for the moronic Moran, I'd also have to point out that the Tory and Liberal Democrat candidates in the Luton South constituency won't be Moran either. Sure, the Tory and Lib Dem parties have been implicated in the expenses scandal as well. However, what about the UKIP candidate? The Green candidate? Hell, even the BNP candidate won't be Margaret Moran, and the BNP - despite their many heinous flaws - aren't locked into the expenses scandal. And if LPUK field a candidate, then a party formed partly in outrage at the expenses scandal will also be running in that constituency. All these people who - like Rantzen - aren't Margaret Moran. But who actually have an ideology, and a further point for running. Unlike Rantzen. 

The Opposition in the House of Commons has very little chance of limiting the impact of a strong government. Independent MPs have very no chance whatsoever of impacting on a strong government. So even if Rantzen was elected to Parliament, she wouldn't achieve anything. Just as Martin Bell had, on balance, sod all impact after entering the Commons in 1997. 

History shows that, more often than not, a vote for an independent - particularly a media darling like Rantzen - is a wasted vote. Not just because they might not win. But also because they achieve fuck all if they are elected. That's what's missing from Rantzen's bid for election in Luton South. 

The point.