It’s a busy time for candidate selections – particularly after the announcement of a Big Bang selection of 44 seats all at once.
I’ve been away getting married, so thought a swift round-up of recent selections would be useful (particularly as the party’s official list online continues to be woefully out of date).
If there are any that I’ve missed or that haven’t come to our attention, please mention them in the comments.
Here are the recently selected candidates (aside from Seema Kennedy in South Ribble, whom we’ve covered previously) – where they have Twitter accounts, I’ve linked to them from their names:
Aberdeen South: Cllr Ross Thomson
Argyll and Bute: Alastair Redman
Croydon North: Vidhi Mohan
Ealing Southall: James Symes
Hackney North: Amy Gray
Lewisham Deptford: Bim Afolami
North Norfolk: Cllr Ann Steward
Torfaen: Cllr Graham Smith
It’s notable that again there’s a visible growth in the number of candidates who have campaigning experience, particularly in local government.
Those following the continued debate over the diversity of candidates (be it in terms of ethnicity or gender) will note that of the nine selections mentioned in this post, a third were won by female candidates and a third were won by ethnic minority candidates – though as the chances of Tory success in each seat vary wildly, that’s not the same as a guaranteed impact on the composition of the parliamentary party.
**UPDATE**
Thanks to Amy Gray for pointing out that there is also a new candidate for Hackney South and Shoreditch: Jack Tinley.