Timothy Barnes has been selected as the parliamentary candidate for Cities of London and Westminster. Hoping to replace Nickie Aiken, a former Westminster councillor and chair of the Tory Reform Group who stood against Keir Starmer in 2017, will be hoping to buck the national trend in a long-standing Conservative constituency that Electoral Calculus predicts will turn heavily to Labour.
The lead up to the selection was overshadowed by suggestions that three of the longlisted candidates for the seat were clients of the College Green Group – the employers of Thomas Borwick, the association’s char. It has also been reported that Victoria Borwick, his mother and the former Kensington MP, also applied for the seat, although did not make the long-list.
However, ConservativeHome was told these reports “haven’t covered themselves in glory”, were drawn up prematurely, and should not have too much read into them. On the night itself, around 200 members turned up to vote on the final short-list of three: Barnes, Sarah Bool (a solicitor who fought Vauxhall in 2019), and Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, Number 10’s Director of Strategy.
ConservativeHome has been told the selection process was “relatively smooth”. Njoku-Goodwin – also a former SPAD for Matt Hancock, and has worked in the music industry – was defeated on the first ballot, with Barnes winning a “substantive” victory over Bool in the second round. A Westminister local, Barnes follows the common tendency towards ‘local champions’ in recent selections.
Local members – and local voters – were said to be after a candidate “who breather their air and experiences their problems”, which Barnes was thought best placed to supply, with locals pointing towards Aiken’s pedicabs work as an example of what a strong MP can achieve. He faces Rachel Blake, a Tower Hamlets councillor, for Labour, and Edward Lucas, ex-Standpoint editor, for the Lib Dems.
Hoping to run against Sadiq Khan’s record as effectively as Steve Tuckwell managed in Uxbridge and South Ruislip last year, ConservativeHome wishes Barnes the best in an uphill battle.