Will local Associations select SpAds or councillors? Such was the question I asked, in a more elongated form, in my last report on Parliamentary selections.
The answer in the latest one is: both.
For yesterday in Hendon, the Association selected Ameet Jogia, who is both a Downing Street adviser and a local councillor, to replace Matthew Offord.
Jogia is a Harrow councillor, a co-Chair of Conservative Friends of India, and a former aide to Dolar (Lord) Popat. There were signs in last year’s local elections, not least in Harrow, that Indian-origin voters are transferring support to Rishi Sunak’s party.
The new candidate is also an experienced electoral hand, having fought Brent North in the 2017 election.
Conservative prospects in most London seats are bleak at the moment. Electoral Calculus currently projects a majority of almost 11,000 for Labour in Hendon.
However, the election is very unlikely to come earlier than next May, and could be the best part of 18 months away, so projections, like polls, are snapshots, not predictions.