Labour names candidates for Police Commissioner posts

Elections are due to take place in November next year in 41 different areas of England and Wales (except London), corresponding with local police forces.

Today the former minister Paddy Tipping announced he is going for Labour’s nomination in Nottinghamshire, where he served as MP for Sherwood from 1997 until last year. Tipping stood down as an MP in 2010 because his wife was terminally ill. As well as a couple of brief spells as a minister (in the Cabinet office, and deputy leader of the house), he also twice served as PPS to Jack Straw, first at the Home Office and later in the Ministry of Justice. Another seeking the Notts nomination is Penny Griggs, a former Lord Mayor of Nottingham.

Two county councillors are thought to be interested in being Conservative candidate in Nottinghamshire – Mike Quigley (former leader of Bassetlaw Council) and Bruce Laughton, Parliamentary candidate for Gedling in 2010.

Read more: Tories to pick police candidates through open primaries

The former Police Minister, Welsh First Minister (and Welsh Secretary) Alun Michael has just told me that’s he’s thinking about running for the job. If elected – in South Wales presumably – that would necessitate a by-election in his seat of Cardiff South and Penarth. Commissioners are not allowed to serve as MPs at the same time.

I hear that the former Labour MEP Simon Murphy may also run for the job in the West Mercia, though I’ve not had confirmation of this.

In the biggest police authority outside London – West Midlands – Mike Olley, a former Birmingham councillor (1991-2005) who manages the Broad Street Business Improvement District, is putting himself forward for the Labour nomination.

Another Labour contender is James Plaskitt, the former MP for Warwick and Leamington, who was a junior minister at the DWP, and lost his seat at the 2010 election.

Wolverhampton councillor Bob Jones, a member of the West Midlands Police Authority, is a contender for the PPC job in his area.