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 Cllr Chris Philp |
Tories hold ‘primary’ in search for winner
US-style contest allows voters to choose candidate
TORIES are to stage a US-style primary contest, open to all voters, to find a candidate to stand in Hampstead at the next general election.
Party chiefs are hoping to “reach out” to floating voters in a bid to swing the new constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn in their favour.
Boundary changes have shifted the battle westwards, away from Highgate and into new wards in neighbouring Brent.
Anybody registered to vote in the constituency has been invited to the “Open Primary” for candidates on December 12. Ballot papers will be handed out on the night, with the vote deciding who will be selected.
An initial list of hopefuls has been whittled down to four. They are: James Morris, former council election candidate in Regent’s Park; Lindsey Hall, a Conservative campaigner from Maida Vale, Councillor Chris Philp, who ousted former Town Hall leader Raj Chada from his Gospel Oak council seat; and Richard Merrin, a public relations whizz who is standing in next week’s Kentish Town by-election.
Stephan Shakespeare, co-founder of pollsters YouGov, will run the on-stage interviews at the ‘Open Primary’ at Old Hampstead Town Hall in Haverstock Hill.
Conservative Party leader in Camden, Councillor Andrew Marshall, said: “Winning elections isn’t just about pleasing your loyalists, it’s about reaching out to floating voters as well. I think this is an innovative way of finding a candidate.”
The Conservatives once ruled Hampstead, holding the Hampstead and Highgate seat from 1974 until Glenda Jackson’s first win for Labour in 1992, when she squeezed out Oliver Letwin.
In the late 1990s, Ms Jackson’s hold on the seat was secure but the constituency is now under threat from the Conservatives and Lib Dems, who improved their share of the vote last year and made significant gains at council elections in May.
The Tories are now hoping to steal a march in the contest at the next general election by using their ‘primary’ to find a candidate who will appeal to voters from the outset.
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