Sunak’s Deputy Chief of Staff and founder of centrist Tory think tank Onward Will Tanner has bagged a rare Tory safe seat. He was parachuted into Bury St Edmunds & Stowmarket last night – winning by a “landslide“. To much anger from the local Tories…
Local Tories have been complaining about Tanner – a known Remainer – being selected in a seat that voted to leave the EU in 2016 by 54.1%. Tanner has been cleaning up his digital footprint by unliking previously liked tweets on Twitter – one of which wrote in February: “Brexit was always going to fail, forcing the Conservative Party into being the party of Brexit was always going to be a long-term mistake”. Not exactly a representation of the people in Bury…
Apparently the Tory bag carrier had a little help to get selected, having been given a list of names and phone numbers to call Tory members and get them on side. A big help that other candidates are not so lucky to have. One local Tory member tells Guido of their disgust: “Will Tanner has been calling members, we feel it’s a fait accompli…We are not overly happy with any of it”. Not a good start to connecting with your constituents…
Meanwhile other Tory SpAds have been hoping to stay in the political arena after losing their desks in Downing Street. Some have not been so lucky – former serial SpAd Anita Boateng lost out in Epping Forest, as did Cleverly’s SpAd Alice Hopkin in Southend. Other losers are Micheal Gove’s SpAd Henry Newman in Bexhill & Battle and Rishi’s SpAd Declan Lyons in Stratford Upon Avon. Serial applicant Seb Payne is shortlisted Surrey Heath. Tory chairman Richard Holden had to pull out of the selection process in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich last night after facing backlash from local members. Now he’s been shortlisted in Basildon & Billericay – he’ll find out tomorrow whether or not he’s been selected. Time is ticking…
With just 42 days until polling day, parties are scrambling around for candidates to stand in seats. Michael Crick reckons there are around 190 seats with no Tory candidates, while Labour have around 100 vacancies still to fill. New candidates are being announced every few minutes. For Labour, it could be a repeat of the Tory 2019 intake, with down to the wire vetting procedures letting in a few…duds…
With the the election a few weeks away, the Tories will be able to parachute in their favoured candidate in those rare Tory safe seats. Guido has been following the various stitch-ups over the last few weeks. Here are a few Westminster insiders to watch that may be parachuted in by CCHQ:
- Seb Payne.
- Jamie Njoku-Goodwin.
- Will Tanner.
- Alice Hopkin.
- James Forsyth.
- David Goss.
- Emily Sheffield.
- Ed Barker.
- Adam Hawksbee.
- James Price.
Meanwhile, reformed trotskyite hack Paul Mason has lost again – he’s missed out on being shortlisted for Corbyn’s seat in Islington North. The parachute regiment mobilises…
Trouble is brewing again in Rochford and Southend East. Outgoing Tory MP James Duddridge seems to have waved the white flag on working, apparently clearing out his desk in his constituency office. This freeing up some room for nepo-SpAd Alice Hopkin to take up a desk two days a week. Perhaps she’s reduced her role as SpAd to James Cleverly to part-time to allow her to focus on her selection bid…
Now, a Special General Meeting has been called for Friday 3rd May – the day after the local elections – with the backing of Duddridge. The main purpose of the meeting is to remove the Association Chairman, Gavin Chambers, and parachute in a temporary chair to oversee a ‘fair selection’. Chambers himself has been calling for a more transparent and open candidate selection process over the last few months…
Local Tories have been getting in touch with Guido to complain of the saga, fearing ‘by election rules’ will be imposed so only three candidates are allowed – one favoured by CCHQ, two weaker token candidates to make favoured look the best. The whiff of a CCHQ stitch-up isn’t going away…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
