Saturday update - Jo Johnson has released the following statement:
"I'm honoured to have been selected as the PPC for Orpington - a seat that has been so brilliantly represented by John Horam MP - and would like to pay tribute to the exceptional field of candidates who made it such an exciting and gritty finish. I wish them all the best - they deserve better luck than they had last night.
"I'd also like to thank Association Chairman John Esler for his sterling work in organising the selection in such a compressed timeframe and to say how much I am looking forward meeting as many people as possible in the coming weeks as I get cracking on the campaign."
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Jo Johnson was selected at a special general meeting of Orpington Conservative Association tonight to replace retiring MP John Horam as candidate at the general election.
Events took a dramatic turn when what should have been the fifth and final ballot - a run-off between Johnson and Sajid Javid - resulted in a tie, and a sixth ballot was then called in which Johnson was victorious by just one vote.
A total of six finalists had appeared before the meeting, which I understand was attended by just over one hundred association members.
Jo Johnson is the younger brother of London Mayor Boris and an associate editor of the Financial Times where he edits the paper's Lex column. Read more about him in his Wikipedia entry. He will defend a notional Conservative majority of 5,221.
Jonathan Isaby
