Oliver Carroll has been selected as the successor to Graham Brady in Altrincham and Sale West. Previously seen as a safe Conservative seat, Electoral Calculus currently gives Labour an 86 per cent chance of winning – and a local Conservative source suggests the constituency should be considered “hyper-marginal”.
Carroll currently works at Clifford Chance, the law firm, but grew up in the constituency and has family there. Like Brady, he attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, and is under thirty at the time of his selection. He has been a member of the association since the age of 14, and has never stood for another constituency or as a councillor.
He was in the final two with Laura Evans, a former local councillor in Trafford and the Conservative candidate for Wirral West in 2019 and Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2021, and Atifa Shah, the candidate in Rochdale in 2019 and a former Youth Parliament MP. Going into the selection, Evans was widely considered the frontrunner, according to local Conservatives.
However, Carroll triumphed on the night by a margin of 58 votes to 44 on a turnout of 112: a victory on the first ballot. A local source explained that whilst there was a “large anti-Laura rump” in the association, a lot of little-seen faces turned up on the night and likely swung the vote. They also disputed claims all the existing councillors vote for Evans, as has been suggested elsewhere.
Carroll told ConservativeHome: “I’m delighted and thrilled to have been selected to fight for my hometown. Together with our fantastic local Association and Councillors we will make our case that only the Conservatives will protect our precious Grammar and High Schools, reopen our local hospital, and save our green spaces.” We wish him the best of luck.