Former Tory MP Andrew Pelling to stand as Labour council candidate

An interesting development in Croydon, where former Tory Croydon Central MP Andrew Pelling (who joined the Labour Party in 2011) will be standing as a Labour candidate in the 2014 local elections. According to the Croydon Advertiser:

“Former Conservative MP Andrew Pelling is to be a Labour candidate at next year’s council elections, the Advertiser can reveal. The former Croydon Central MP is to stand in the crucial ward of Waddon. Mr Pelling was MP for Croydon Central from 2005 and 2010. He stood as an independent against Conservative Gavin Barwell but lost his seat – finishing fourth behind his former party colleague and the Liberal Democrat candidate.”

Official confirmation of this looks set to come later today…