Colchester Tories have rowed in behind former double Olympic gold medal-winning rower James Cracknell as their parliamentary candidate for the General Election. He won on the first ballot last night from a list of six candidates. The seat is currently held by Will Quince, who is standing down. According to UK Polling Report, Cracknell will have a tough race on his hands – on current polling, Labour’s Pam Cox is in the lead.
Could be a photo finish…
With Tory seat selections gaining momentum, Guido’s been given a list of attendees at a March selection meeting for CCHQ’s approved candidate list – from which local associations can pick their candidates. The Tory hopefuls were:
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James Cracknell – Double Olympic gold medal winning rower and former Tory candidate for European Parliament.
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Tom Davies – Chairman of Suella Braverman’s Fareham Constituency.
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Amy Selman – Ex-Boris adviser from his City Hall days.
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Carline Deal – Council candidate for Beckenham Conservatives and a school governor.
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Josh Mastin-Lee – Solicitor and former council candidate in Barnet.
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Jonny Goff – Public relations specialist, ex-officer in the European Parliament with the ECR grouping, worked on Syed Kamall’s campaign for London Mayor.
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Anuj Nithin – Ex council candidate for Romsey and Southampton North Conservatives.
A notable absence of Westminster-based insiders…
Former Olympic rower James Cracknell, the thinking man’s Sol Campbell, has put his name to a new Policy Exchange report calling for a tax on sugary drinks. Cracknell, PX’s “Senior Research Fellow for Obesity and Physical Activity”, praises Mexico’s tax on sugar-sweetened drinks which caused purchases to fall by 12%, concluding:
“The human misery and drain on the public finances is so great that the government has no option but to intervene… [a sugary drinks tax] is on balance a sensible intervention to help prevent the rise in obesity”
Ironically this nannying tax would hit Cracknell himself. Three years ago, the failed Tory candidate confessed to Men’s Health his two “worst vices“:
“I used to put ketchup on everything… Now I just drink a lot of coke.”
Diet, presumably.
Of course, a tax on sugary drinks would disproportionately hit poorer families. And wouldn’t be noticed by multi-millionaire coke fiends like Cracknell…
