Last week Indymedia reported on ex-Ambassador Craig Murray's audacious attempt to unseat Jack Straw, his former boss, in Blackburn :

Jack Straw forced Ambassador Craig Murray out of the Foreign Office for exposing human rights abuse in Uzbekistan. The tyrannical Uzbek president is a close ally of George Bush, and it's believed that Straw caved in to US pressure to silence our outspoken "man in Tashkent".

Craig Murray has now resigned from the Foreign Office and will be standing against Jack Straw in Blackburn, as an Independent candidate at the General Election. His aim is to highlight the hypocrisy of a government that preaches democracy on the one hand while supporting oppressive regimes on the other.

The odds may be tough, but with the controversy over Iraq, an upset could just be on the cards.

To find out more about the campaign, check out www.craigmurray.co.uk.