The hustings is on again...kind of.

I was a bit hesitant to blog on this when I heard, given the indecision up to now.

But it seems that Labour WILL put forward a candidate to defend their record at the Ashfield hustings tonight.

After Gloria De Piero refused to face her rivals down at the event Labour made signals that a substitute candidate would be sent.

Andrew Clayworth (below), who is standing for Labour against Ken Clarke in Rushcliffe, had originally said he would go to the Ashfield hustings in De Piero’s place.

Then this morning Labour began saying the party had made no commitment to send anyone – Clayworth noted however that he had been “stood down” by the party.

But the latest news is that the party will now allow Clayworth to go to the event.

De Piero’s refusal to attend says something about her willingness to let the press see her speaking to real people, while the party’s indecision says something about how Labour is dealing with “events” right now.

Clayworth is going to have a job explaining to the crowd why he is there and De Piero ain’t. Live Twitter feed from 7pm.