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We’re reaching the last few days of the process of selecting Conservative candidates, and while the pace of selections is slowing there are still some underway – not least in Conservative-held seats. The Isle of Wight, Redditch, Hitchin and Harpenden and Harborough associations are all still to choose who they will put forward to follow Conservative MPs who are standing down.
This morning, we exclusively reveal the shortlist in Harborough, the seat which is being vacated by Sir Edward Garnier (pictured, right), as well as bringing you a new shortlist for a key target seat, and news of another tranche of newly-selected candidates.
Shortlist for Harborough (Conservative majority 19,632)
Those who will contest the selection on Friday, 5th May are:
Shortlist for Leeds North East (Labour majority 7,250)
A target seat, albeit one with a sizeable majority to overcome, the Leeds North East selection will take place tonight, Thursday 4th May. The three shortlisted candidates are:
Candidates selected
Birmingham Selly Oak (Labour majority 8,447): Cllr Sophie Shrubsole: A Tonbridge and Malling Borough councillor, where she serves as Cabinet Member for Housing, Shrubsole is Director of Operations at the Westminster Business Council and runs her own company offering First World War battlefield tours. She is a graduate of the University of Birmingham.
Don Valley (Labour majority 8,885): Aaron Bell: A trading development manager for Bet365, and a senior business analyst at a financial technology firm which he helped to launch, Bell serves as the Treasurer of East Staffordshire Conservative Association. He won the 2009 series of The Krypton Factor.
Scunthorpe (Labour majority 3,134): Cllr Holly Mumby-Croft: A North Lincolnshire councillor and town councillor in Broughton, just over the constituency border in Brigg and Goole, she also serves as a school governor. Mumby-Croft has in the past campaigned against local wind farm development plans, and earlier this year used council scrutiny powers to expose failings on the part of the local health trust.
Stalybridge and Hyde (Labour majority 6,686): Cllr Tom Dowse: A Stockport councillor, Dowse is currently studying Ancient History at the University of Manchester. He is a former Parliamentary assistant and serves as a governor of a pupil referral unit in Manchester.
Tooting (Labour majority 6,357 in the 2016 by-election, 2,842 in 2015): Dan Watkins: Having fought here in 2015 and then in the 2016 by-election after Sadiq Khan’s election as London Mayor, this will be Watkins’ third crack at the constituency. An entrepreneur, who runs his own legal technology business, he has written several times for this site. He was selected unopposed last night, as expected, but I gather that enthusiastic campaigning for him in the seat began last week.
Wolverhampton North East (Labour majority 5,495): Sarah Macken: The Head of UK Public Affairs for the defence arm of Airbus, Macken has written occasionally for this site. She fought Brent East for the Pro-Life Alliance in 2001, and stood in East Ham for the Conservatives in 2005. In the run-up to the 2015 General Election, she was longlisted in Havant, and was a finalist in selections in Faversham and Mid Kent, Louth and Horncastle and Braintree.
Selecting tonight
Despite the local elections, I’m aware of two target constituencies meeting tonight to select their candidates. They are:
Leeds North East (Labour majority 7,250): Shortlist and candidate biographies above.
Luton South (Labour majority 5,711): Shortlist yet to be revealed.