ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Derek Thomas selected for St Ives

Councillor Derek Thomas was selected in a well attended open primary last night.

Lib Dem MP Andrew George has a notional majority of 9500.

30% of all selected candidates are women

Due to popular demand we finally updated our rolling list of who has been selected so far last week.

This affected the proportional statistics a little. Exactly 30% of the candidates listed are women, which compares to women being selected in 19% of target and held seats in 2005 and 11% of the 2005 intake being women. The number of ethnic minority candidates remains static.

Mark Versallion selected for Stretford & Urmston

We posted the shortlist for Stretford & Urmston's open primary back in July, and published comments congratulating Mark on his selection, but it seems we forgot to do another post confirming his selection.

Well, Mark Versallion has been selected for Stretford & Urmston!

Mark Jones selected for Aberdeen South

Mark Jones, former candidate for Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock, has been selected to fight Aberdeen South.

A Lab-Lib marginal, Labour MP Anne Begg was just over 8000 ahead of the Conservatives in 2005.

Andrew Pelling MP's suspension still in place

We learnt yesterday that Andrew Pelling will not face charges from the policy after he had been accused of assaulting his wife.  A Metropolitan Police Officer said:

"A 48-year-old man from Croydon who was arrested on September 18 in connection with allegations of assault has been released from police bail with no further action.  A thorough investigation was carried out by the community safety unit at Croydon.  A report was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, as is routine, and the CPS has taken the decision not to press charges."

This morning's News of the World reports, however, that Mr Pelling remains suspended by the Conservative Party.  Tory Chief Whip Patrick McCloughlin has to complete his own separate enquiry before Mr Pelling can be readmitted to the parliamentary party.

Four Scottish selections

The Scottish ToryBoy blog has spotted some new selections on the Scottish Conservatives website:

Former MP and MSP Phil Gallie has been selected to fight Central Ayrshire. The seat is held by Labour MP Brian Donohoe who has a 10,000 majority over the Tories who finished in second place last time around. Phil is a big name in Ayrshire, having been MP for Ayr, and hopefully he can cut into Donohoe's majority.

Cllr David Potts has been chosen to challenge Alastair Darling in Edinburgh South West. The Chancellor has a 7000 majority from the last election. This seat was formed in 2005 after the combination of two former Westminster seats, Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Pentlands. Central was last represented by a Tory when Sir Alex Fletcher was the MP until 1987. Edinburgh Pentlands on the other hand, was represented by Sir Malcolm Rifkind until 1997 but at Holyrood level is represented by Tory MSP David McLetchie who has a 4,525 majority in that seat over Labour.

Over in Edinburgh West, Stewart Geddes has been selected to try and overturn a 13,000 Lib Dem majority. The current MP is John Barrett but this seat of course was Tory between 1974 and 1997 with Lord James Douglas Hamilton holding that seat for the Tories.

In the west of Scotland Martyn McIntrye has been chosen by the Party to fight the West Dunbartonshire seat. In 2005 the Tories finished 4th in the seat, some 19,000 votes behind the Labour Co-op MP John McFall.

Trefor Jones selected for Ynys Mon

Otherwise known as Anglesey. The seat is a Lab/PC marginal with the Conservatives getting only 11% of the vote last time.

Trefor was the Assembly candidate there in Ceredigion last year and has now restarted his blog as a result of this weekend's selection.

Candidates' Association holds annual conference on 10th November

Encouragement of Conservative candidates to become 'community champions' within their constituencies will be a key theme of this year's Candidates' Conference, organised by David Senior and Mary Macleod of the Candidates' Association.  Philippa Stroud of the Centre for Social Justice and our candidate in Sutton and Cheam, will address candidates about the benefits of becoming supportive of local charities and voluntary groups.

Party Chairman Caroline Spelman plus Shireen Ritchie and John Maples MP of the Candidates Department will also be speaking.

Attendees will have the option of attending two of six workshops.  Themes include 'funding your campaign', 'handling the media' and 'preparing a CV' for candidates who have not yet been adopted.  The workshops and other details of the Conference are summarised in this PDF.

MP-candidate mentoring

David Cameron meets with Jeremy Hunt, Douglas Carswell, Adam Holloway and other MPs for an update on the ways in which the parliamentary party is mentoring candidates in target seats.

Flick Drummond selected for Portsmouth South

LibDem MP Mike Hancock has a notional majority of just over 3000.

Oliver Colville adopted for Plymouth Sutton

Oliver Colville was chosen by Plymouth Sutton Conservatives yesterday evening to be their candidate to overturn a projected Labour majority of 4,305.  This will be Mr Colville's third successive attempt to unseat Linda Gilroy MP.  He beat three other candidates in the first round of voting.

Last December Cllr Patrick  Nicholson had been chosen by an open primary to be the Tory candidate but the Plymouth Sutton Association declined to ratify that choice.

Mark Nolan selected for Dunbartonshire East

LibDem Jo Swinson is 4000 ahead of Labour and 12000 ahead of the Conservatives.

Tranche Five, Phase Two

The latest tranche of seats open for selection has been released:

• Alyn and Deeside      
• Birkenhead      
• Cambridge      
• Cardiff Central      
• Cardiff South and Penarth      
• Clwyd South      
• Croydon North      
• Derby South      
• Feltham and Heston      
• Halton      
• Hayes and Harlington      
• Hazel Grove      
• Houghton and Sunderland South      
• Ilford South      
• Luton North      
• Luton South      
• Middlesbrough      
• North East Derbyshire      
• Norwich North      
• Norwich South      
• Plymouth Moor View      
• Sherwood      
• Southampton Test      
• Stockton North      
• Swansea West      
• Wallasey      
• Warrington North      
• Washington and Sunderland West

Applications close Tuesday October 23rd. Use the PBC for boundary changes and UKPollingReport for projected majorities.

Ann Widdecombe to stand down

Ann Widdecombe MP has announced that she will stand down at the next General Election.

Miss Widdecombe, who celebrated her 60th birthday last week, leaves a projected Conservative majority of 11,793 for her successor in her Maidstone and the Weald constituency.

The other plum seat yet to select is Cambridgeshire NE, from where Malcolm Moss is retiring.

Nick Boles was selected for Grantham and Stamford - another relatively safe Conservative seat - on Friday evening.

Neil Hudson selected for Edinburgh South

The Scotsman says that Neil is a local vet and that only A-listers could apply.

The seat is a target for both the LibDems and Conservatives.

Deputy Editor

Brenda Porter selected for Southport

Popular local councillor Brenda Porter has been selected today to take on the LibDem John Pugh's majority of 3838.

Her council colleague in Ainsdale, Mark Bigley, had been fastracked to restand here but resigned his candidacy earlier this year.

Deputy Editor

Nick Boles selected for Grantham & Stamford

A rollercoaster few months for Nicholas Boles - and for the Grantham and Stamford Conservative Association - has ended in success with his adoption as the Conservative candidate to succeed Quentin Davies.

Nick skipped Tory Conference in order to dedicate himself to the selection process that concluded tonight.

He beat Steve Barclay, James Brokenshire and Vicky Ford.

He inherits a projected Conservative majority of 6,636.

Antoinette Sandbach selected for Delyn

Antoinette is a single-mother, farmer and barrister.

Delyn has a Labour majority of 6644.

Deputy Editor