LABOUR Party bosses will interview a dozen candidates today as they search for a replacement for Peter Mandelson as MP for Hartlepool.

Twenty-nine people applied and that number has been reduced to a list that includes six local candidates.

Three Hartlepool councillors - Steve Wallace, Iain Wright and Robbie Payne - former councillor Moss Boddy, ex-Euro MP David Bowe and Jamie Corrigan, chief executive of Ferryhill Town Council, in County Durham, make up the local applicants.

Downing Street policy advisor Patrick Diamond, who was tipped to join the race last weekend, yesterday withdrew, while former council leader Russell Hart and health boss Gerald Wistow did not apply.

Mr Wistow, chairman of Hartlepool Primary Care Trust, said he had carefully considered standing but decided he would have to give up too much.

Mr Diamond, a former researcher for Mr Mandelson, has worked on several election campaigns in Hartlepool and sources close to him told The Northern Echo last weekend that he would stand.

But reports of discontent from councillors and party members, who wanted a local candidate, are believed to have dissuaded him.

Mr Diamond said yesterday: "There has been much speculation throughout last week that I was seeking Labour's nomination in Hartlepool.

"However, I decided at the weekend I would not seek election on this occasion.

"It is quite clear there is a desire to have a local candidate and that is something we have to take very seriously."

The candidates on the list will be interviewed in Newcastle today, and it is believed between two and four of them will be put on a shortlist for local party members to vote on after a meeting on Friday night.

While many of the names have been the subject of speculation since Mr Mandelson's move to Brussels as European Commissioner was announced nearly two weeks ago, Mr Corrigan has appeared out of nowhere.

The Hartlepool-born local authority boss has been a member of the Labour Party for seven years but has never tried to win a council seat because of a potential conflict with his job.

He said last night: "I have never felt it appropriate to get involved in frontline politics while I have been working in the same area, but the MP's is a completely different position."

Meanwhile, Hartlepool businessman Gus Robinson insisted he would be standing if he felt there was enough support for him as an independent candidate.

Mr Robinson, who fought the last election as a Conservative, said: "I feel I can do a first-class job and I would love to do it."