ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Gurcharan Singh selected for Ealing Southall

Gurcharan Singh has been selected to contest Ealing Southall at the next general election. He was one of five Labour councillors in Ealing to defect to the Conservatives during the by-election in the constituency in July 2007.

The seat was won for Labour at that by-election by Virendra Sharma with a majority of 5,070 over the Liberal Democrats, with Conservative candidate, Tony Lit, in third place.

The Rallings and Thrasher projection (based on the 2005 general election result) of the slightly redrawn seat suggests that Labour will go into the general election defending a notional majority of 13,140 over the Conservatives, with Cllr Singh requiring a swing of 19 per cent to take the seat.

He had been a Labour councillor for 25 years when he defected to the Conservatives and has held a number of civic posts including chair of Housing, chair of Planning, chair of Recycling and Waste, Cabinet member for the Environment, deputy leader of the council and Mayor of Ealing.

Other recent defectors now contesting seats for the Conservatives include Rehman Chishti in Gillingham and Rainham and Jeff Clarke in Wirral South.

Conservatives suing LibDems for copyright infringement

Selectively scanning parts of opposition leaflets for their own leaflets, without permission, is a tactic often used by the LibDems. Now for the first time they're getting sued for copyright infringement on Monday by the Conservatives, who released a statement saying:

"For years we've turned the other cheek as the LibDems have wilfully broken copyright in order to gain political advantage by misrepresenting our material. Now the time has come to say enough is enough."

The LibDems used a leaflet ragout and official photo of Tony Lit in one of their newspaper-style leaflets, and continued to deliver them after being notified

The Conservatives got their solicitors to work yesterday in what should be an open and shut case. The LibDems will almost certainly have to pay approximately £10,000 in costs as well as the yet-to-be assessed damages.

In other news, Labour were up to tricks during Cameron's visit on Friday. He got followed around by several people with amateurish signs and a drum, decrying the closing of shops by the Conservative council. Cameron wasted time engaging with them and the press widely mentioned it. The issue they were referring to is a non-story, and they didn't know he was due to be there by magic...

Expect more fun and games this week.

Deputy Editor

What the media are saying about Tony Lit

Quotes from recent articles in The Times in the Evening Standard:

"With an acumen not usually associated with the Conservative Party, the Tories have moved to capitalise on their success, choosing as their candidate one of Britain's most successful Asian businessmen - whose business happens to be based in Southall."

"As Mr Lit walked down the road, people rushed out to meet him and gave him the thumbs up through shop windows. He has charisma, is well groomed and appears to be expensively tailored. He easily eclipsed Ken Clarke, the Tory grandee who had turned up to lend his support, suggesting that the Tory leader’s big tent approach to candidate selection – particularly in a constituency where 62 per cent of voters are from ethnic minorities – may pay dividends."

"The Liberal Democrats splutter at the suggestion that the Tories are the principal challengers at this election, after they came second in the 2005 general election. The party’s talented election supremo, Chris Rennard, has taken charge."

"To anyone outside the more ideological ranks of the Tory membership, Mr Lit looks the kind of person all the parties are desperate to attract, a rather impressive and personable candidate whse main risk is that he might actually win the Tories some votes."

"Lit was also an official ambassador for London's Olympic bid and has advised Buckingham Palace on community cohesion. he has also been a fashion model, which seems to be helping with the younger, female voters."

"The sight of all those Tory posters in the windows of Southall's sari shops, grocers and restaurants is testimony to the Lit family's links with the area. As always, with prominent local businessmen, the lits have admirers and detractors in the community."

David Cameron in Ealing Southall

WebCameron video of Cameron walking the streets of Ealing Southall yesterday flanked by candidate Tony Lit and an army of poster waving supporters:

Campaign Together

You may remember we linked to a CampaignTogether.com in the newslinks a month or so ago, it's a very useful tool for informing Conservative activists about local by-elections happening near them.

The Party has been fine-tuning it for a long time and following Piara Khabra's funeral yesterday it is now in full by-election mode for Ealing Southall and Sedgefield.

You can sign up for its newsletter here, or even better apply to be a member of its Volunteer Taskforce and get full access to the website.

Deputy Editor

Asian radio entrepreneur to be Ealing Southall candidate

Tony Lit, Managing Director of Sunrise Radio, has been chosen from a large number of hopeful candidates to stand for the Conservatives in the by-election (held on July 19th). A local family man who was educated at a state school, he has had no previous involvement in the Party but is said to be joining because of David Cameron.

The constituency as a whole has the second largest Asian community in the country, mostly concentrated in the Southall half of the constituency where one of the wards is 97% non-white (and where the LibDems are basing their new HQ).

Lit's wealthy and influential father stood in 2001 as a "Sunrise" candidate and managed to beat the LibDems into fourth, so hopefully his son will bring a similar following with him! Another factor in his favour is that Sedgefield's by-election will stretch LibDem resources more than ours.

CCHQ see his candidacy as quite a coup. The constituency's new campaign HQ is hoping for as much mutual aid from other constituencies as possible. We'll post details of how you can sign up to help later today. Go to CampaignTogether.com to sign up for helping out in all sorts of ways. Your Party needs you.

Friday 12 pm update: Just to be clear, Tony did become a member of the Party before passing the Parliamentary Assessment Board. He has always voted Conservative but couldn't join the Party earlier due to his directorship of the radio station, a position which he has duly resigned from. Also, much credit is due to Grant Shapps MP for getting Campaign Together off the ground.

Deputy Editor