Ten days ago we featured an article on the site by Hamish Fulton, who explained why he answered David Cameron's call in May for new would-be parliamentary candidates to come forward.
Today, the Sunday Times reports that 70 names have recently been added to the candidates' list (considerably lower than the 4,000 who initially expressed an interest) and identifies the following five:
- Nini Adetuberu (pictured) - A 29-year-old Nigerian-born woman who works with drug addicts in north London;
- Merryn Myatt - A 55-year-old businesswoman who use to present the BBC consumer show, The Really Useful Show, and regional news in North West England;
- Colonel Bob Stewart - The 60-year-old former soldier and friend of Martin Bell who served in Northern Ireland and the Balkans and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry in Bosnia;
- Rory Stewart - a 36-year old former officer in the Black Watch (and one-time Labour supporter) who set up the Turquoise Mountain Foundation, a charity dedicated to restoring Afghanistan’s traditional craft skills;
- Charlotte Vere - A 40-year-old who gave up a well paid career as a finance director to run Big White Wall, a charity helping people with mental health problems.
They will doubtless appear among the many who applied for the first tranche of safe seats to come up post-Expensesgate and will also be vying for the nomination in the latest retirement seat to emerge: Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, which Sir Michael Lord announced yesterday he will be vacating at the general election.
One relative newcomer to politics who has already been selected to fight a Conservative seat is of course Sarah Wollaston, the GP chosen to fight Totnes at an Open Primary.
Jonathan Isaby
