Double by-election test for Brown

12 April 2012

Gordon Brown will face a double poll test within a month of becoming Prime Minister after the Government launched the process to replace Tony Blair as an MP.

A by-election in Sedgefield is now expected on July 19 after the outgoing PM quit Parliament to take up a new role as a peace envoy in the Middle East.

Voters will also go to the booths to elect a replacement for veteran Ealing Southall Labour MP Piara Khabra, who died last week, aged 82.

Labour said it expected both to take place on July 19 but the final decision rests with local returning officers.

On Wednesday, Mr Blair was appointed envoy to the Quartet group - the United States, United Nations, the EU and Russia - seeking to broker peace in the Middle East.

He told constituents it would prevent him visiting the constituency and that it was "only right that the constituency has a full-time Member of Parliament".

Mr Brown's final act as Chancellor was to appoint his predecessor Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern - a device allowing an MP to resign their seat.

Mr Blair had represented Sedgefield since 1983 and at the 2005 General Election increased his majority to 18,457.

The Ealing Southall seat is likely to prove a stiffer test, with the Liberal Democrats posing the biggest threat to Labour's 11,400 margin from 2005.

Mr Khabra - who was Britain's oldest MP - held the seat from 1992.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in