For co-conspirators following the sojourn of Seb Payne towards a safe seat, there is bad news tonight. He missed out on selection in Michael Gove’s former seat by a whisker, just two votes. It might have to be next time, Seb…
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…
Seb Payne has been added to the shortlist for Surrey Heath, the seat recently vacated by Michael Gove. The seat used to be safe – now it’s a marginal. It’s been a long journey from Seb’s leaving the FT this point…
Tory associations are in a febrile mood, often kicking up a fuss over the imposition of centrally-favoured candidates over longtime local activists. Payne is up against Ed McGuinness, President of Conservatives in the City and candidate in 2019 for Hornsey & Wood Green, and campaigner Anna Robinson. The battle to be the next Gove is on – the selection set for tomorrow night…
UPDATE: A member of Surrey Heath Conservatives gets in touch:
“Payne has already had Rishi and co. attempt to parachute him into Bromsgrove, and now he’s appearing in Surrey Heath. I don’t think it’s possible to get a more Michael Gove-like candidate.
We were promised a shortlist of 3 on Friday and we didn’t get it until Monday, with just 24 hours before the vote. In fact, the shortlist was leaked by the local Lib Dems before members here were even informed. That tells you everything you need to know really – today’s leadership of the Conservative Party has more in common with the Lib Dems than us grassroots activists.
For a Party that believes in freedom, it’s not putting any faith in members at all. It’s a socialist stitch up and it all makes me want to vote for Reform.”
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…
Speaking on the Labour chaos over the last few weeks, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told The Guardian:
“You call it a sh*tshow, I say it’s unforgivable…It does look to people outside that we’re more interested in ourselves and less interested in preventing chaos. […] We’ve not done enough, and this has got to be the moment of reckoning where we say not just what are we here for, but who are we here for?”
