David Gold has been selected to fight the Eltham seat for the Conservative Party at the next General Election. Mr Gold stood for the Brighton Pavilion seat at the 2001 General Election and in 2005 helped the winning candidate in the Peterborough contest.
Labour held Eltham in 2005 (sitting MP is Clive Efford) with a reduced majority of 3,276 after a swing to the Conservatives of 5.7 per cent from the 2001 Election result. The seat was held by the Conservatives from its creation in 1983 until the Labour landslide in 1997 (Labour majority 10,182), although the Conservatives retained the seat in 1992 only with a very slim majority of 1,667.
It is certainly a good sign that the Conservative Party is choosing a gay candidate in what may be a winnable seat, specially given that the other two potential candidates seem to have themselves been pretty credible. In fact, the Eltham selection is not exactly 'news', having been decided on 31st July, but it is apparent that boundary changes are felt to make it a likely Conservatove gain at the next election. I will watch future nominations with much interest.
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