Anna Soubry selected for Broxtowe

A-lister Anna Soubry was selected in Broxtowe last night - beating the other two finalists, David Gold and Bruce Laughton.

Anna fought Gedling in 2005 and was in the Mid Derbyshire final last month (won by Pauline Latham).

Later today I will try to establish how well the closed primary system worked.

Exactly a third of all Tory parliamentary candidates - selected so far - are women.

Comments

[James]

As a barrister practising out of chambers in Nottingham, she is a local candidate too.

[Craig Barrett]

Perhaps a silly question, but why is she not fighting Gedling again?

[Andrew Woodman]

A good selection. A well known local candidate. I personally believe she would have got this regardless of the gold list but it will up the percentage.

[christina speight]

HEY! The blog's as bad as the media!!! Not a hint that Ms Soubry is a barrister and local [Thanks James]

You could skip the pic if space is tight! :-)

[Andrea]

"Perhaps a silly question, but why is she not fighting Gedling again? "

Considering that A Lister are supposed to apply to many seats and Broxtowe was in the first tranche (while Gedling not), I think it would have been "weird" for her not to apply to Broxtowe.

[Alison Anne Smith]

Bad luck David, where next ?

[Conservative-man]

Andrea, One might assume that Geddling was offered the chance to preselect, but that Anna did not take the opportunity.

But there is a broader question. Sitting in London and not knowing either seat, it does appear that both seats are winnable. The question then is why are people not being asked to fight seats again? If we value localism (and a host of other factors), surely there is value in keeping with the same person fighting the seat - it is one of the few things that I would adopt from the Liberal Dem campaign manual.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Anna was an excellent candidate in Gedling last time. Very hands on - and up against quite a popular local MP in the form of Vernon Coaker.

Both Gedling and Broxtowe have to be targets for the party if we are ever to form a majority Government, and I think Anna would have been selected A list of no A list.

I assume that as Anna is on the A list (and rightly so) she would be expected to apply for seats that are advertised in the first tranche. Unless I am wrong I dont think Gedling was on that list.

From someone who was in the final four for Gedling last time I say well done Anna!

[David Surtees]

Gedling was not in tranche 1 and Anna as an A list candidate was entitled to apply for the seats that were on it. Hence Mid Derbyshire where she made the final three and Broxtowe where she won. She will make an admirable candidate. Yes she is local having lived in Nottinghamshire for all but 7 years of her life, she used to be a journalist and news presenter on central TV before taking up the bar, and she is politically active in Nottingham.

[Richard Carey]

Congratulations to Anna on winning the nomination. I'll be interested to hear any feedback on how the closed primary process worked there.

Christina: we've selected a good local candidate by primary election - I'm not entirely sure where you see the disadvantage in that!

I'm afraid I haven't met Bruce Laughton, but I do know David Gold and have campaigned with him before, and so I gather that Anna won as part of a slate of very good quality candidates. I wish the others the very best of luck in finding seats elsewhere.

[Fleur]

Anna will indeed make an excellent candidate! She has the drive and the personality to make it (in my humble opinion). We need more Annas in the party!

[HF]

How are we doing in Broxtowe?

The Labour MP keeps posting on pb.com that there are few signs of Conservative activity, that he is getting a lot of support on the ground and that the signs are that Broxtowe Conservatives fail to update their website for 6 months.

Since our PPC has been in place for 18 months is the Labour MP just spinning?