ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Gary Ridley selected for Coventry North West

Young local Councillor Gary Ridley was selected for Coventry NW tonight. Labour's Geoffrey Robinson has a majority of almost 9000.

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Hannah Parker selected for Exeter

Hannah beat Eleanor Jupp in an open primary tonight.

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Calder Valley open primary candidates

Calder Valley, which has a Labour majority of just over a thousand, is having an open primary on March 27th: 

Lucille Nicholson (Easington 2005),  Karl Poulsen (Keighley 2005, Tynemouth 2001), Janice Small and Craig Whittaker (Calder Valley Election Agent 2005) are the candidates.

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John Woodward selected for Camborne Redruth

County Councillor John Woodward was last night selected in an open primary to be the candidate for Camborne Redruth. The seat is held by Lib Dem Julia Goldsworthy, but is also closely contested by Labour.

John, pictured celebrating with his family, has lived in the constituency his whole life working in engineering and local politics.

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Final four for Hammersmith

Shaun Bailey, Anthony Frieze, Helen Grant and Kedra Goodall will go through to the open primary on Thursday 29th March. Click here for previous posts on Hammersmith.

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Welsh Assembly constituency candidates

The last of the Welsh constituency (first past the post) candidates was selected last night. The list of forty is copied below, the demographics of the new line-up are interesting.

The average age of the candidates is 38, with an even spread of candidates in their 20s (Craig Williams is just 21), 30s and 40s. There are also a couple more women standing than last time, and a dozen or so first-time candidates. If you include the candidates so far elected for the regional lists, ten Conservative candidates in Wales can speak Welsh.

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Diana Coad selected for Slough

The long run of male candidates being selected has now ended.

Slough's candidate in 2001, local Councillor Diana Coad, was last night selected to fight it again. She stood in Stourbridge in 2005. Slough's projected Labour majority is over 8000.

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James Wharton selected for Stockton South

James is just 23 years old, and was the youngest Association Chairman in the country when he became the inaugural Chairman of the Stockton Conservative Federation at the age of 19 (whilst studying at nearby Durham University). Boundary changes give Labour a notional majority of 5696.

Update: James has written for CF Diary about getting selected

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Last six for Hammersmith

The slimmed down list of candidates for the new constituency of Hammersmith:

Shaun Bailey, Ashley Crossley, Anthony Frieze, Kedra Goodall, Helen Grant and Samantha Manning-Smith.

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Simon Rouse selected for Nuneaton

Simon Rouse was selected from the shortlist to represent Nuneaton - which has a notional Labour majority of 3,843. Brought up in Nuneaton, he is now leader of the Conservative Group in Tower Hamlets.

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Byles selected for Warwickshire North

Daniel Byles, a former Officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps, is an explorer and ocean-rower.

See the previous post on this selection here, the seat has a notional Labour majority of 6697.

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Hammersmith shortlist of twenty

The new Hammersmith seat has a notional Labour majority of 5646. The current MP for Hammersmith & Fulham, Greg Hands, will stand for Chelsea and Fulham at the next election.

Shaun Bailey
Paul Bristow
Aidan Burley
Daniel Byles
Ashley Crossley
Jackie Doyle-Price
Anthony Frieze
Helen Grant
James Edsberg
Thomas Fairhead
Kedra Goodall
Lynne Hale
Sheela Mackintosh
Samantha Manning-Smith
Naman Purewal
Robert Seely
Simon Walker
Mary Weale
Helen Whately
Margrit Williams

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Bradford West selection

Zahid Iqbal, the candidate in Bradford North in 2001, was recently selected for the very winnable Bradford West seat - held by Labour Sikh MP Marsha Singh. He had previously applied for Leeds North West.

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Final two for Leeds NE

Matthew Lobley (PPC Leeds NE 2005 and Leeds City Councillor for the Roundhay ward) will face another local man Simon Baker (PPC Cardiff West 2005) for the Tory nomination for this seat on 22nd March.  The seat has a projected Labour majority of 6,599.

Eric Ollerenshaw selected for Lancaster and Fleetwood

Eric Ollerenshaw will need to overturn a projected Labour majority of 4,056.  Good luck, Eric!

Richmond Park shortlist

The shortlist of six is now of three - Zac Goldsmith, Samantha Manning-Smith and Kulveer Ranger.

They will face an open primary on March 16th.

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82 MPs sign letter of support for Sir Patrick Cormack

Jonathan Isaby has a copy of a letter that 82 Tory MPs have signed in support of Sir Patrick Cormack.  The letter which represents all strands of opinion within the parliamentary party has been put together by defence frontbencher Dr Julian Lewis.  The letter is lavish in its praise of Sir Patrick:

"He is independent-minded and an acknowledged ‘conviction politician’;
- He is fearless in standing up for his principles;
- He is a man of unimpeachable integrity;
- He is one of the best orators in the House of Commons;
- He has great experience and understanding of the Parliamentary system;
- He has made major contributions to heritage and the arts;
- He is assiduous, hugely energetic and respected by political allies and opponents alike;
- He is courteous, compassionate and is not the sort of politician to utter a spiteful word or shallow remark;
- He sets an example which the rest of us would be proud to be able to follow."

Wow!  It's an unprecedented move but will it now create an awkward precedent?  The next time an MP is in trouble with their local Association there might be an expectation of such a letter coming from the parliamentary party.  We'll see...

Jason McCartney selected for Colne Valley

Jason McCartney tonight beat Ben Jeffreys to become the candidate for Labour marginal Colne Valley.

Deputy Editor