MacKenzie enters politics over parking

Kelvin MacKenzie - former editor of the Sun, scourge of Westminster, the man who flayed John Major alive and ended Neil Kinnock’s career - is about to enter politics.

The legendary journalist is seeking election as an independent for Elmbridge local council in Surrey, where he has a home, at the local elections next Thursday. The reason? Anger at the cost of parking at Weybridge station kicked him off - he arrived one morning to discover the charge had risen by 43 per cent. "A quick check of my pay packet confirmed that I had not received a 43 per cent pay rise lately," says MacKenzie.

After attempting and failing to get his local MP and Tory councillor to question the price hike, he decided to put himself up for election. His party has a name - the Red Mist Party - and a manifesto. One policy demands that final salary pension schemes be scrapped for town hall employees. He says: "I don't want these people retiring at 60 with gold-plated schemes, while the rest of us have to keep going because we can't afford to quit."

MacKenzie adds: "Come next Thursday night, you will either be watching the birth of the Red Mist Party - a new phenomenon in local politics - or the demise of a silly old fool who lost his temper at a £5 parking charge."