Tireless activist Luciana Berger - tipped as a Labour high-flyer - is the front-runner to land the nomination in the vacant Wavertree seat at the General Election after the party decided to restrict selection to an all-woman shortlist.
The race to replace Wavertree MP Jane Kennedy comes after she decided to stand down at the General Election after 17 years as one of the city’s five MPs.
She indicated that the “unrelenting pressures" of 10 years as a Government minister had taken its toll on her family life. Parliamentary rule changes after the expenses scandal will also mean she would in future be unable to employ her partner Peter Dowling as an aide.
The all-woman shortlist excludes the potential nomination for the seat City Council Labour Group leader Joe Anderson who could have been the prime contender.
With her striking good-looks, London-born Ms Berger, who is already a member of Labour nominations shortlist, has been identified by party sources as the favoured name for Wavertree.
She is a budding "career politician" an a member of the Co-operative Party. Ms Berger is also a school governor and sits on the steering group of the London Jewish Forum. She has a Masters Degree in Government, Politics and Policy from Birkbeck College and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Birmingham
She hit the headlines in 2005 when she resigmed from a post with the NUS in protest at what she described as "continued apathy within the National Union of Students to Jewish student suffering."
Ms Berger began a blog in August and has been a regular visitor to Liverpool where she has put in a lot of time learning the nature of the Wavertree constituency and working for the party locally.
Her blog can be found at http://lucianaberger.com/
A party souce said: "Luciana has made a big impression in Liverpool. She is very beautiful but also very down to earth and not afraid of rolling her sleeves up. She has been working very hard and getting her face known at all the party events. It is not a quite shew-in yet but it is getting to feel that way."
A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Labour is working to increase the diversity and representativeness of Parliament and has a proud record of increasing the number of women and ethnic minority MPs. In working to achieve this we believe that members should play a major role in selecting their candidates.
“With the General Election approaching, the NEC agreed unanimously to set up a panel of NEC members that will oversee selections. Today the panel resolved that Liverpool Wavertree will select candidates from an All Women Shortlist and that Sefton will select from an open shortlist.
"If people want a Parliament that is more open, plural and democratic then we need to make big changes. Labour has the most successful record of women’s representation in comparison to all other political parties and will always have equality as a core value."
The all woman shortlist in Wavertree excludes names like Cll Paul Brant and former Lord Mayor Steve Rotheram as contenders but opens the way for Cllr Roz Gladden, who works in Ms Kennedy’s office, to make a strong bid as the most likely local contender.
In 2007 she missed out on becoming the West Derby constituency Labour candidate to former government minister Stephen Twigg when current incumbent Bob Wareing was de-selected.
Other names mentioned include Cllr Wendy Simon and Cllr Anna Rothery.
Paul, Wavertree around 2 years, 3 months ago