By Peter Hoskin
Follow Peter on Twitter
Two more Tory candidates have been selected for 2015. They
are Alex Chalk and Stephen Double — and, although they deserve congratulating,
of course, as individuals, there are some striking parallels between the pair.
Both will be contesting target seats that are currently held
by Lib Dems. In Mr Chalk’s case, it’s the seat of Cheltenham, which has been
shaded yellow since 1992, and where Martin Horwood has a majority of 4,920. In
Mr Double’s, it’s St Austell and Newquay, a seat created for the last election,
when Stephen Gilbert won a 1,312 vote majority.
And, as with many of the candidates announced so far, both
have a history of local-level activism. Mr Chalk, a criminal barrister who was
brought up in the Cheltenham constituency, is a councillor London's Hammersmith
and Fulham Conncil. Mr Double is Deputy Mayor of St Austell town council, as
well as a school governor, a trustee of a local community trust and a volunteer
with Volunteer Cornwall.
Anyway, here’s what they have to say in response to their selections.
Mr Clark describes his priorities as:
“…to promote the local economy, jobs and growth; tackle
the legacy of Labour’s debt, secure a strong future for the NHS and improve
local education particularly in Maths and the sciences.”
And Mr Double has said:
“I am incredibly honoured and delighted to have been
selected as the next Parliamentary Candidate for the Conservative Party for St
Austell and Newquay. I am very grateful to everyone who has supported and
encouraged me along the way and especially to all those who came out on a wild
Cornish evening to attend the selection husting. This area has been my home for
my whole life and it is a place I love and care about deeply. I now look
forward to working with and for local people in the campaign for the next
General Election. I have had a Liberal as my MP since I was 8 years old. It is
time to change that!”