THE man who could have altered history by thwarting Tony Blair's bid to become an MP has come out in support of Scottish independence.
Former minister Les Huckfield was Blair's main competition for the Labour Party candidacy in the Sedgefield seat in 1983.
Blair won the selection contest and went on to become Prime Minister for a decade.
Huckfield now runs a one-man social enterprise consultancy in Auchterarder.
The Yes Scotland campaign yesterday unveiled the 72-year-old left-winger as its latest recruit.
An industry minister in the late 1970s, Huckfield left Labour because of the Iraq War.
He said: "When I moved to Scotland in 2004 it became apparent that this is a country with a veritable passion for social justice.
"The agenda in England represents the disintegration of many principles and policies to which Scots hold dearly.
"I believe that an independent Scotland is an opportunity not only to free itself from Tories and a UK Coalition agenda but also from the agenda of New Labour.
"A radical independent Scotland is a lifetime's opportunity to start again."
In his autobiography, The Journey, Blair described Huckfield as a "genuinely interesting political phenomenon" in the 1960s, but said he later "caught the [Tony] Benn virus and became overnight a fully paid-up ultra-leftist".
After losing his seat through boundary changes, Huckfield tried to get into several other seats, including Sedgefield in County Durham.
Blair said: "The doors were always barred and he became a bit like something out of Transylvania wandering from village to village and having the garlic and crosses hung above the doors.
"But he damn near succeeded in Sedgefield."
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: "Who?"
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