it's catching!

earlier today i posted about a district council group leader being de-selected.

this was followed by a scottish conservative candidate confirming he had resigned.

and now an mp has been de-selected! crickey, is there a cull going on or is this just a random day?

Sir Patrick Cormack, one of the longest-serving MPs and the Conservative who
secured the biggest swing for his party at the last election, failed by a narrow
margin to be readopted at a meeting of his Staffordshire South constituency
association. Sir Patrick, 67, an MP since 1970, is expected to appeal to a full
meeting of his 500-strong constituency party to overturn the executive decision.
His majority is 8,847. Sir Patrick’s views have not always gone down well
with the Tory Right. He supports the Iraq war and tried to build consensus on
contentious issues, leading cross-party delegations to ministers.

n.b. de-selection is a poor term; the correct term is "not reselected", but ack - the result is the same.