One of the architects of the famous Tory victory in Wandsworth in 1978, he never stopped campaigning in the borough.
Former MPs Amanda Solloway and James Davies take another run at their seats as new contenders take up posts across Wales, the West Midlands, and London.
Two-thirds of this latest tranche come with a caveat that applicants may be deselected if the boundary review goes ahead.
The Tories are making gradual rather than spectacular progress on ethnic diversity – as the party’s class of 2017 looks set to prove.
The three would-be successors to Sir Edward Garnier. Plus, six new candidates, and the shortlist for Leeds North East.
Plus: Eleven candidates selected elsewhere, including Gillian Keegan in Chichester and Kemi Badenoch in Saffron Walden.
The Conservative by-election candidate Dan Watkins is a local champion of the community.
Expect to read a lot of cliché about the constituency’s diversity and vibrancy. It has both, but it is a mistake to think that the area’s BAME population is all for Labour.
What the claims and post-mortems will look like – and, either way, there will be at least one Commons by-election.
In Tooting, we have harnessed ‘People Power’ to change our area for the better under the terms of legislation passed by the last government.
The pace of change between each election will leave obsolete the relatively stable arrangements that we know now.
The general election was a perfect storm for our Party in this part of the world, but looking ahead I think there are grounds for optimism.