Liverpool Wavertree: Tomlinson’s bid confusion
By Chris Bradley
Whether Ricky Tomlinson will be Wavertree’s candidate for the Socialist Labour party [SLP] is still unclear.
The former Brookside and Royle Family star met with SLP leader Arthur Scargill in Liverpool in February and it was expected that Mr Tomlinson would be announced as a candidate.
That announcement has never come and Mr Tomlinson, 70, has not commented further.
An SLP spokesperson said: “We are trying to arrange a public meeting in Liverpool – one that will be addressed by both Ricky and Arthur. If we can’t arrange this because of their commitments, we will issue a statement.”
Mr Scargill is also keeping tight lipped about potential candidates.
He said: “They will be announced in due course. We will be standing in Liverpool and Merseyside.”
Mr Tomlinson was an active trade unionist in the 70s and he made the bid for candidacy in protest at Labour’s decision to put 28-year-old Londoner Luciana Berger forward for a seat on Merseyside.
He said: “It doesn’t make sense to me.”
Miss Berger admitted she did not know who Liverpool FC legend Bill Shankly was or who sang Ferry across the Mersey, angering Blackpool-born Tomlinson.
He told the Liverpool Echo: “This woman could not even answer some easy questions about Liverpool. I think the state of British politics is abhorrent.”
Nobody from Miss Berger’s campaign was available for comment.
