Claire Perry from George Osborne's office fought off Victoria Atkins, Paul Hearn, Jeremy Quin, Nadhim Zahawi and Zehra Zaidi to inherit Michael Ancram's projected majority of 10,982. Nadhim Zahawi came second.
The 45-year-old mother of three develops policy for the Shadow Chancellor, focusing on jobs and value for money for the taxpayer.
She was educated at Nailsea comprehensive school and went on to read Geography at Oxford, before taking an MBA at Harvard. Before working for George Osborne, she worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, McKinsey and Bank of America.
She has been a Conservative Party member since 2006 and is chairman of her local party branch within the Salisbury constituency, living as she does just outside the Devizes constituency.
Monday update - Claire has released the following statement:
"I am thrilled and honoured to have been selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Devizes. I am not a typical political candidate and this was the first seat I had applied for. I hope that as a business person and mother I can bring a breath of fresh air to traditional politics.
"I am determined to fight tirelessly for the issues that matter to us in the Constituency including helping our local economy to survive this recession, making sure we have the right transport links and broadband connections in Wiltshire and getting the services we need in Savernake and Devizes hospitals. I also want to see Britain return to economic health and tax payers’ money spent wisely at all levels of government.
"It is a privilege to follow in the footsteps of Michael Ancram who was such a distinguished politician at both the local and national level and I am looking forward to living and working with everyone in this wonderful Constituency."
Jonathan Isaby
