I have been selected as Liberal Democrat PPC for Gosport.

Well it's been an interesting few months.

The whole story started just before Christmas when I was persuaded by a number of people that I should put myself forward for the post of Liberal Democrat PPC for Gosport. There were already a number of other potential candidates, some highly qualified, all vying for the opportunity to take on Sir Peter Viggers old seat, but it was felt by the local party that we needed a fresh, untarnished, local candidate for Gosport.

At this time I hadn't even been through the approval process that all potential Liberal Democrat PPC's have to go through to prove that they have the qualities needed to become a Liberal Democrat MP. The list of competencies was pretty comprehensive and the process that they had in place was designed to test these.

It was somewhat reassuring to know that the Liberal Democrat selection process was this meticulous and covered all the skills required of a succesful MP, but it was also a bit scary, especially for someone like myself who had not had to perfom under exam conditions for some years.

Needless to say that I came through the candidate approval process with a pretty good score, so much so that by the end of it I was emerging as central's preferred candidate. Well, with the local party feeling that they needed a local candidate, by the middle of February it was looking like I was favourite to get the job.

By this time Caroline Dineneage had already been selected to take over from Sir Peter Viggers as the Conservative PPC and the Labour Party had decided to go with Dr Graham Giles.

There were just a few more steps to go and I would be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Gosport in the 2010 general election, but with central's and local's recommendation it was looking to be a foregone conclusion.

It is now official, the press release has gone out and I am now the Liberal Democrat candidate for my home town of Gosport.

What happens next only time will tell, but I have decided to use this blog to document what happens from my perspective. I will update my progress as often as I can.

Rob.