Clarence Mitchell – perhaps best known as the media spokesman for the parents of Madeleine McCann – lost his bid last night to morph into a Conservative Party MP.
Mitchell, who used to be a PR advisor to the Labour Party, was pushed into third place behind the UK’s only Green Party MP Caroline Lucas – who held comfortably on to the Brighton Pavilion seat, even increasing her majority – and Labour’s Purna Sen.
With a total of 12,448 votes, Mitchell nonetheless managed to scoop 23% of the vote on a pledge to “work tirelessly to make Brighton a better place”.
Intriguingly, in his “About Clarence” bio, as well as the section entitled “More About Me”, Mitchell failed to make any mention at all about the years he has spent as a spokesman for the McCann family.
He did however cite various media roles and that as a trustee of Swanswell, the national charity that helps tackle problem alcohol and drug abuse, he brought “special insight and awareness” to some of Brighton’s “most important social issues”.
