Will Lia Nici stand for re-election in Grimsby - or will she be pulling down curtain on her career in politics?

                                          

Will Lia Nici be back on the campaign trail?

IT may not be the burning question on everyone's lips at the Conservative Party conference, but it matters in Grimsby.

Will MP Lia Nici (54) seek re-election at the next General Election - probably to be held next year?

Still in her first term in  the Commons, Ms Nici sensationally won the Great Grimsby seat from Labour in in December 2019 with a majority of 7,331.

Probably the most loyal parliamentary ally of Boris Johnson during his turbulent and increasingly unstable period at Number 10, she became one of his parliamentary private secretaries - then, for a short period in his last weeks as Prime Minister, a junior minister.

But since his departure, her political star has fallen - and with it perhaps her appetite for the job.

Over summer, he profile has been low, and her output on Twitter and other social media has all but dried up. 

Any hopes she might have nursed of being elevated to the House of Lords also seem  to have faded.

Like many of her counterparts,  particularly female, she has probably become despairing of the barrage of unpleasantness - and sometimes vitriolic abuse - that seems to have become part of an MP's lot.

She may also be frustrated at how little has been achieved on her watch. There is no evidence of jobs having been created, of an uptick in the  local economy or of shops having seen saved from closure.

Even if Ms Nici does want to stand, will she be re-selected by her constituency association? Is she singing from the same hymn sheet as its decision-making officers?

Que sera sera. Only time will tell.                                                 

Is Grimsby MP still lamenting the departure of Boris Johnson?

                                          

Ms Nici and Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers (front), with Cllr Philip Jackson (right) and deputy NELC leader Stan Shreeve, were at Cleethorpes Pier to mark its 150th anniversary in  August. She and Mr Vickers stayed for fish and chips, but the NELC duo made their apologies and left.