Sixties singer warns off the voters

Sixties heart-throb Ronnie Carroll is going for the ultimate nul points prize in the Uxbridge by-election this week.

While Labour and the Tories trade blows on the doorstep to pull out the voters, Ronnie is singing what he hopes will be a hit new single: "Don't Vote for Me, Reg and Tina!"

Mr Carroll, standing for the Emerald Rainbow Islands Dream Ticket Party, believes he can set a new political record for Britain, by getting no votes at all in a parliamentary election. The previous record is five votes.

The singer, who represented the UK twice in the European Song Contest with "Ring-a-Ding Girl" and "Say Wonderful Things", is not campaigning and has issued no leaflets.

His party boss, George "Rainbow" Weiss, has put out an appeal to the electorate: "Ronnie's ideal result would be to receive no votes at all - so please support his cause by staying at home on polling day. "

Mr Carroll, thrice married and thrice divorced - the first time to the That Was The Week That Was star Millicent Martin - hopes the by-election on Thursday will launch his re-entry into showbusiness. He has a new CD coming out in September entitled The Rainbows Are Coming.

If so, they have been a long time coming. It is 30 years since Ronnie Carroll, who abandoned crooning for a hot sausage stand in Camden Market, London, was in a recording studio. His last hit, "Say Wonderful Things", reached number six in 1963.

It's not too late for Ronnie to rethink his election strategy. A few turns round Uxbridge with his new song blaring from a loudspeaker van might just pull off the elusive political prize he is seeking.