Out of the race

I learnt tonight that Jamie Driscol, Labour's North of Tyne Mayor, has failed to make the longlist for the new North East Mayor. He is now staring at redundancy as, once the regional mayor is elected, the North of Tyne position is consigned to history. Driscol prospered in the Corbyn days and is described as the last Corbynista still in power. In office he was, at best, rather underwhelming. At least now we won't have to put up with his visits to Saltwell in Gateshead. Not that his previous visits there helped Labour. They lost the seat to us in last month's local elections.