The Duck Island selection - Gosport goes postal
There are 73,683 registered voters in the Gosport parliamentary constituency. And now it seems the conservatives will be consulting all 73,683 people by post to decide who should be their next candidate.
That person is of course replacing Sir Peter Viggers, who was forced to stand down over the duck island expenses scandal. It's not entirely a safe seat, but one that will get a lot of interest.
It will be only the second time that a party has given every voter a chance to vote by post. The Conservatives felt the first postal ballot at Totnes in Devon helped draw a line under the expenses scandal there, giving voters the sense of a fresh start.
It will cost tens of thousands though, Gosport is a bigger seat than Totnes. The cost is being met by the Tory party centrally, though the shortlist of four will be decided by the local association.
We'll know next Tuesday the six names that they'll pick from. Will Stanley Johnson be there? I'm told that there have been hundreds of applications.

Welcome to the hustings! I'm Peter Henley, the BBC's political reporter in the south of England. From parish councils in Sussex, to European politics in Oxford, this is the blog for you.
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