That's an MP's life as Rantzen aims to clean up Commons

Published on Tuesday 28 July 2009 22:01

ANTI-SLEAZE crusader Esther Rantzen has officially confirmed she will stand for the seat of Luton South, after its disgraced Labour MP Margaret Moran announced she was standing down at the election.

Labour had a majority of just 5,000, with the Conservatives second in the 2005 election, but Rantzen hopes her career as a TV champion of consumer rights will allow her to make a breakthrough as an independent.

Rantzen said that on her visits to Luton she had been greeted "enthusiastically" and her decision to stand had become more than a protest. "It's a glimpse of a vocation, a really worthwhile job that has not been done in Luton South for many years," she said.

But her Tory opponent, Nigel Huddleston, said: "If you're going to stand as an anti-sleaze candidate, surely it would make most sense to stand against an actual wrongdoer. They are hardly in short supply."