North Antrim- Robin Swann;
South Antrim- Adrian Watson;
East Antrim- Rodney McCune;
North Belfast - Fred Cobain;
West Belfast- Bill Manwaring;
South Belfast- Paula Bradshaw;
East Belfast- Trevor Ringland;
Strangford- Mike Nesbitt;
South Down- John McAllister;
Lagan Valley- Daphne Trimble;
Upper Bann- Harry Hamilton;
Newry and Armagh - Danny Kennedy;
Fermanagh and South Tyrone- Tom Elliot;
Mid Ulster- Sandra Overend;
West Tyrone- Ross Hussey;
Foyle- David Harding;
East Londonderry- Lesley McAuley
A mixed bag, to be sure, of "civics" and "culturalists" but not too bad a selection to put in front of the joint Conservative and Unionist committee. I think if I could be allowed but one wish with that list it would be that Daphne Trimble is allowed to take on and absolutely humiliate Donaldson...but that's probably being petty;)
The one remaining constituency has a straight-forward answer: Parsley for North Down; given her frequent and public declared antipathy towards their party, I can't imagine the Conservatives on the joint committee would be prepared to select her anyway.
I'm going to take a punt and say that the Conservatives will probably be happy enough to run with Bradshaw, Ringland, Nesbitt, Overend, Trimble and Hamilton. What happens with the other constituencies may depend on the strength of their own organisation on the ground (FST went by default to Elliott for example).
Whatever, the wheels are in motion
Update
Those wheels were turning a bit quicker than even I expected:
Lady Sylvia Hermon, sitting MP in North Down, has told her party she will not be seeking the candidacy in the forthcoming general election.
Update 2
Chekov dissects the choice.
3 comments:
Who's gonny be the favourite for N. Down if Hermon runs as an independent d'ye think?
Put it like this, until she declares either way, Paddy Power isn't getting any of my cash!
If she stands as UUP, she'll win it.
Otherwise...DUP constantly score 35% here, her last Westminster election she pulled in 50%. The UUP at last Assembly elction only got 24% (her personal vote, also more 1st preferences for the small parties than the votes they'll get in the GE).
As Independent with no party back up re posters and doing the donkey work she'll have a hard slog. She needs to pull in tactical Alliance and SDLP votes and at the same time keep the majority of UUP voters onside, not impossible but very difficult.
Kilfedder used to get a couple of his chums to put up posters in thel ast week of the campaign when he got a bit nervy but he coasted home.
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