LABOR has ruled out any short term comeback by Craig Thomson after the MP declared he might beat 150 fraud charges against him in time to contest the September election as an ALP candidate.

In his first media interview since last Thursday's dramatic move by NSW police to arrest him, Thomson told Fairfax Media he believes the ALP has delayed preselection in his NSW seat while his legal fight plays out.

''I'm sure that's part of it,'' he said. The 48-year-old says he's ''had a chat'' to party officials about preselection and is ''talking to family, friends, colleagues as to what I do'', but ''obviously the events of last year are going to have some bearing on my capacity to stand and those sorts of things.'' In response, Labor's national secretary George Wright acknowledged the party is yet to preselect for Thomson's central coast seat of Dobell, but told Fairfax Media ''we will be selecting a new Labor candidate.''

Last Thursday, Thomson was arrested by five New South Wales and Victorian detectives and charged at Wyong Police station with fraud. A further 149 charges were laid. They relate to his use of a Health Services Union-issued credit card, while he was the union's national secretary, and include claims union money was spent on prostitutes and election campaigning.