I would like to welcome former Wandsworth councillor Nadhim Zahawi to the Stratford on Avon parliamentary contest, selected tonight by the Conservative Association as their candidate. Nadhim is a highly respected figure and Chief Executive of YouGov. I do want to send my condolences to Councillor Philip Seccombe who, as the only local candidate, might have expected to have gained the vote. Philip has a strong background in the constituency, and would have fought a very strong campaign.
I look forward to a clean campaign, fought on the local issues which we all care about. I also want to echo Digby Jones’s comments of this week, as he urged us all to put the people of Stratford on Avon first. Digby is (as so often) right: more at this time than ever before, it is for us politicians to earn the trust of the people we will represent, not to impose a central party will on them.
