What are Labour party members supposed to make of our latest recruit - former Tory Hove mayor Bernard Jordan?

I have nothing personally against Bernie, but I cannot help wondering how much he had to change his views in order to find a home in New Labour and, conversely, how much the party may have changed to accommodate him. These are issues the average party member is unlikely to be aware of. Instead, we are simply expected to rejoice in this latest coup.

I know Bernie from my own brief time as a Hove councillor and I have the greatest respect for his long record of public service - he was a Tory through and through.

He was not known for his criticism of Tory policies and may best be remembered for assisting in the Tories' attempt to privatise the management of council housing in Hove - a policy thankfully reversed by the incoming Labour administration in 1995.

Bernie's defection may, as Ivor Caplin says, be a sign of how Labour is broadening its appeal. Even Tories can now join!

-Andy Richards, Woodhouse Road, Hove