Winning on the second ballot was a clear testimony to the quality of John Glen's campaign and performance on the day.
It was a superbly organised event with nearly 500 present. Enormous credit must go to Salisbury Conservative Association Chairman Penny Brown and her team.
All five candidates did well but Victoria Atkins and Zehra Zaidi put in particularly strong performances in my view. I hope they find seats very soon.
It was striking how conservative all of the candidates were. They all, for example, made very Eurosceptic pledges, all backed grammar schools, all committed to much stricter control of immigration.
John complemented this traditional message with commitments to raise the profile of overseas aid among younger voters and also to build a stronger society as the best defence against crime. He said that reductions in benefit dependency must be at the heart of any budget cuts and that protecting the defence budget would be his first priority.
I'm looking forward to him becoming my MP if we can face down the LibDem threat in the coming weeks.
Tim Montgomerie
