Rupert Harrison has been selected as the Conservative candidate for Bicester and Woodstock. The constituency is a hotchpotch creation of current Oxfordshire seats, containing 39 per cent of Banbury, 20 per cent of Witney, 18 per cent of Oxford West and Abingdon, and 6 per cent of Henley. It is prime Inspector Morse country – and should, on paper, be relatively safe for the Tories.
Harrison will be familiar to some readers as the former Chief of Staff for George Osborne between 2006 and 2015. Having been born in Sau Paulo, Harrison won a scholarship to Eton, and went to Magdalen College to study first Physics and then Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. He has a PhD in Economics from University College London and has worked at the investment firm Blackrock.
Competing with Harrison in the final three were Resham Kotecha, a strategy consultant who stood in Dulwich and West Norwood in 2015 and Coventry North West in 2017, and Rory O’Broin, a former local councillor in Wandsworth who stood in Streatham in 2019. Both have family connections to the area: Kotecha via her husband, O’Broin via his parents. Harrison also lives in Oxfordshire.
A local Conservative suggested the selection had been “a hard choice”. Each candidate was “strong” but offered something different and “their own style”. Harrison won on the first ballot and impressed due to his ability to “talk about local issues from a national perspective”. One source highlighted that he would always ensure “government knows where Bicester and Woodstock is”.
In a sense, Harrison is the first ‘celebrity’ candidate we have so far seen selected, and, despite his local connections, bucks the trend towards local councillors or experienced campaigners we have seen in other constituencies that have already selected. Then again, one can stretch the difference so far. He is, after all, a local – just one who happens to have spent five years running the Treasury.
Although Electoral Calculus currently has Labour in second place – and expects a narrow Conservative victory – local sources were keen to stress that they think the Liberal Democrats are the real threat. The Yellow Peril have had remarkable success at recent local elections at taking seats from Conservatives, and Layla Moran is the MP for the neighbouring constituency.
Nonetheless, Harrison is up for the fight. He promises to “campaign with all [his] heart to protect our beautiful countryside and support the local services we all rely on”. If Rishi Sunak weathers the mortgage storm and Harrison slots home in Bicester and Woodstock, one wouldn’t be overly surprised to find him back in the Treasury before too long.
As ever, please contact me at william@conservativehome.com with any candidates and selections info you might have.