06 March 2024 , 17:03
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Blur drummer Dave Rowntree is standing as a Labour candidate in this year’s general election, the Mirror can reveal.
Mr Rowntree, a Labour member since the 1990s, was selected on Tuesday evening to stand in Mid-Sussex constituency, currently held by Tory minister Mims Davies. It's his second run for Parliament, having stood unsuccessfully in 2010 against Tory Mark Field in the Cities of London and Westminster. He's since served as a county councillor in Norwich.
“I joined the party in the Blair years, but remained a lay member for a for a while,” he told the Mirror. “I was an armchair member, saying ‘somebody should do something!’. Gradually it dawned on me that the somebody who should do something was me.”
Mr Rowntree, who lives near Guildford, told the Mirror he plans to be a full time member of Parliament, but that doesn't necessarily mean the end of Blur.
"The band gets together every five years anyway,” he said. “And that's how often we have elections, so I imagine nothing will change there.”
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Ms Davies announced in May she was ditching Mid-Sussex, a three way marginal under new boundaries, to stand in the new seat of Grinstead and Uckfield. A mega-poll of all seats published by the Mirror last month predicted Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems within three points of each other in Mid Sussex - with the Lib Dems narrowly in the lead.
It's the second time Ms Davies has changed seat - stepping down from the Eastleigh seat in 2019 after it was targeted by the Lib Dems - and standing in the old Mid Sussex seat where the Tories had a 19,000 majority.
Mr Rowntree isn’t the only Britpop musician standing for Labour in the next election. Tom Gray, the singer from Gomez - is the party’s candidate in Brighton Pavilion.