Christopher Carter-Chapman has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the new seat of South Cambridgeshire. It consists of 62 per cent of the existing South Cambridgeshire seat, 18 per cent of Cambridgeshire South East, and 8 per cent of Cambridge, and is a critical target for the Liberal Democrats.
A local source described Carter-Chapman to me as the “only genuinely local” choice from the final three, since he lives in the constituency. He fought Ilford South in 2015 and 2017, and has been a town councillor in Runnymeade and Tower Hamlets. Even those he was “overwhelmingly” the most likely choice – as the Deputy Political Chair of the association – but he was also “by far the most impressive” on the night.
Carter-Chapman was up against Joel Charles, a councillor in Harlow who fought St Helens North in 2019, and Ali Azeem, the ‘Global Head of Growth’ at Ipsos Mori who previously advised George Osborne. ConservativeHome was told that the former Olympic rower James Cracknell expressed some interest in the seat, before pulling out of the running.
Electoral Calculus currently has the seat as a three-way race, giving the Conservatives a 40 per cent chance of winning, the Lib Dems a 33 per cent chance, and Labour a 27 per cent chance. A local source suggests the seat is “totally winnable” and that Cater-Chapman will “definitely put on a very strong campaign”, having done so for Anthony Browne in 2019.
As ever, please e-mail me at william@conservativehome.com with any candidates and selection news from your own constituency.