Ross Cranston, professor of law at the London School of Economics and former adviser on legal matters to Neil Kinnock, has been chosen as Labour candidate for Dudley North. His rivals included Bryan Davies, shadow further and higher education spokesman, whose defeat ends his hopes of a seat in the new Parliament. It is a new seat, created by boundary changes. Analysis in Robert Waller and Byron Criddle's Almanac of British Politics classifies it as a Labour marginal, with an 1992 majority of 954 over the Conservatives.