Johnny Luk has been selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for the new seat of Milton Keynes South. A source told ConservativeHome that local Tories prefer to refer to it as ‘Milton Keynes Central’, as it includes the core of the city. Then again, it doesn’t contain the concrete cows for which the city is so famed, so their claims should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Luk has previously worked in the (now defunct) departments for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport and Brexit, and stood in Hampstead and Kilburn in 2019. He was up against Mark Brooks, the candidate for Batley and Spen in 2019, is an Ambassador for International Men’s Day, and gained an OBE for his voluntary work in supporting victims of domestic abuse. He also faced Shazna Muzammil, a local councillor in Milton Keynes who was born in Sri Lanka.
According to a local source, Luk was “definitely the best candidate”. He was “enthusiastic”, “had good priorities for the area”, and outlined a “positive vision” for Milton Keynes which involved attracting tech companies to an area that already has a thriving local economy. Luk “performed best” on the night but also benefited from having grown up in the constituency, and from currently residing there with his family.
By contrast, whilst the other candidates were “impressive”, they weren’t “quite as strong as Luk”. His victory was therefore “fairly comfortable”. However, it won’t be plain sailing for Luk come the next election. A local source described the seat as “hyper-marginal”, which we would win in a good year, but they would be “more surprised if we win than lose”.
Milton Keynes is going from two seats to three, and, a source told me, “there’s a reason why the two sitting MPs didn’t want to go for this one”. Electoral Calculus currently gives Labour a 92 per cent chance of winning it. Nevertheless, Luk sounds wholly impressive – and we wish him all the best.
As ever, if you have any information about candidates and selections, please contact me at william@conservativehome.com.