The Scotsman reports that Jimmy Buchan, a skipper who was featured in the BBC series Trawlermen, has been selected as Conservative candidate for Banff and Buchan. It is the seat currently held at Westminster for the SNP by Alex Salmiond, but the Scottish First Minister is standing down to concentrate on his duties at Holyrood, where he represents the Gordon constituency.
Jimmy's prawn trawler, Amity II, is based at Peterhead in the Banff and Buchan constituency and he blogs about his work here.
He said on his selection:
"I am delighted to be selected and to have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of very successful Conservative members of parliament in this constituency. I am looking forward to a vigorous campaign with only one goal – success. And I am sure the people of this constituency are looking forward to having a Conservative member of parliament again.
"I've always been a Conservative at heart. I wasn't educated at Eton and I don't have fancy degrees, but I do believe that hard work and decent skills are rewarded. The time is right for me to try and use my experience to represent people in my area."
The seat was last held by a Conservative in 1983 when it was won by Albert McQuarrie, but he lost to Salmond in 1987, who has represented it ever since. The SNP majority in 2005 was 11,837, meaning that Jimmy would require a swing of 16% to gain the seat. The SNP's new candidate is Eilidh Whiteford.
