Danielle Dunfield-Prayero has been selected as the Tory candidate for Conservative-held Wimbledon. Combining 90 per cent of the former Wimbledon seat with 16.3 per cent of Kingston and Surbiton, this is a three-way marginal. Whilst Electoral Calculus has Stephen Hammond, the retiring incumbent, squeaking home by 64 votes over the Liberal Democrats, they currently expect it to go Labour at the next election.
Dunfield-Prayero bucks the general trend of recent selections in two major ways. Firstly, she is not a Wimbledon local. Whilst her husband’s family have long-standing connections to the area, she has spent a lot of time abroad, and has been the Deputy Chair of the Chichester association. There she became close to Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, who has described Dunfield-Prayero as “a woman who can deliver for her local community”. She was been the Asia-Pacific Director of Operations for Skarbek Associates, and has represented Britain in two triathlon World Championships.
Also bucking the trend was the fact that Dunfield-Prayero was part of an all-female final three. Competing in her first short-list, she won on the first ballot against Aarti Joshi – a 2022 council candidate in Camden, and previously in the final three in Battersea and Twickenham – and Natasha Airey, a former councillor and ex-chairwoman of the Windsor association, as well as a campaigner with the Conservative Women’s Organisation. One attendee described the selection meeting to ConservativeHome as having had a “very healthy turnout”, with a “great mix of people”, and a “warm and receptive” atmosphere.
Whilst the seat was described to ConservativeHome as “tough but winnable”, we wish Dunfield-Prayero all the best in holding off Labour and the Liberal Democrats – especially as the author is a Wimbledon resident. As ever, if you have information about candidates or selections, get in touch at william@conservativehome.com.