Former councillor Abdul Hai in Liverpool this week

THE political conference season is an important time for networking if you want to get on Sir Keir Starmer’s speedboat to Downing Street.

With a Labour landslide predicted, all sorts of opportunities in all sorts of constituencies have opened up but the last seats on board are going fast for would-be candidates.

The narrowing timeframe does not appear to be putting off Abdul Hai, the former councillor and community safety chief at the Town Hall who this week launched a new website which more or less said in big red letters: I want to be a parliamentary candidate.

The whispers have it that if a ball fell loose from the scrum, he’d love to have a crack at a possible opening in east London.

Those logging on to his spot on the internet will see his list of achievements and it’s impossible not to giggle over the fact he has included his participation in a one-on-one ice rink race against the New Journal’s editor, Richard Osley. This was in aid of our annual Christmas Hamper Appeal.

The ice skate race in 2019

Mr Hai famously lost after crashing to the floor – all caught on well-watched YouTube footage. It was all for a good cause, but, still, it’s very modest of him to include a link to him facesplatting the ice in his promotional material.

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