After his resignation in the summer as Shadow Justice Minister the Labour MP for Hammersmith, Andrew Slaughter, is pitching himself to be the successor to Lembit Opik by taking a niche interest in UFOs.

Here is the query he has made on our behalf:

Unidentified Flying Objects:Written question – 43413

Q Asked by Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith)

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many sightings of unidentified flying objects have been reported in each of the last five years.

Answered by: Mike Penning
The Ministry of Defence does not maintain a central record of the number of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings reported, following the closure of the UFO Desk in 2009.

If Mr Slaughter wants to restore the UFO then I hope this will not be another unfunded spending pledge. Perhaps there will be a localist solution and he can persuade his Labour colleagues to establish a UFO team at Hammersmith Town Hall with the specific of monitoring UFOs over Hammersmith and Fulham – in case the little green men decide to visit our borough.