The Conservative chair, Richard Holden, has been selected at the last minute for a safe seat 300 miles from his former constituency, triggering anger among members.
Holden was chosen to stand in Basildon and Billericay in Essex on Wednesday night after being the only candidate on the list.
Members of the local Conservative association were incensed. Andrew Baggott, the Conservative group leader on Basildon council, said this week he would refuse to campaign for Holden.
A member of Holden’s new local association told the BBC his selection was a “slap in the face” for members in the area.
A Tory insider told the Guardian: “As chairman, Richard Holden is supposed to connect the party to the members. Instead … he’s presiding over a team that have totally ignored the membership and is now forcing himself upon a seat. There will be consequences for this post-election.”
Holden has been on the hunt for a new constituency for months after his own, North West Durham, was abolished in the constituency boundary review.
Basildon and Billericay is regarded as a safe Tory seat. Its former MP John Baron, who announced his retirement last October, won a majority of 20,412 in 2019.
Quizzed by Channel 4, Holden insisted that while “obviously there were a lot of questions” he had got “unanimous support” from the local association’s executive. He denied it was a stitch-up to hand him a safe seat.
“What I would say is that I didn’t have a seat until tonight because my seat had been abolished,” he said. “I came down, the guys here tonight could have said no. They backed me unanimously.”
When it was pointed out he said in the past he was “bloody loyal” to the north-east, he said: “I had said that I am bloody loyal to the north-east because I was the MP for North West Durham. North West Durham no longer exists, it was abolished.”
Asked what attracted him to the 20,000-strong majority seat, Holden said: “I think the crucial thing is what attracted the local association tonight to adopt me unanimously.”
Holden was able to put himself forward as the only candidate two days before the deadline for candidates in this general election to submit their nomination papers.
The Conservative party is scrambling to put together a full slate of candidates before Friday afternoon.
Asked if he would campaign for Holden, Baggott told the PA news agency: “Absolutely not. Sorry, I will be campaigning for Stephen Metcalfe in the neighbouring authority. I will be campaigning for Mark Francois. I will not be campaigning for somebody that is being imposed upon us.”
Richard Moore, the chair of the local association, said Holden’s candidacy had come as “a complete surprise” to local members and that the process was “wholly undemocratic”.
He said the Conservative party’s central office had “stacked everything against us” in how the selection was handled.
“Association members are very disappointed that the party, after seven months, has imposed one candidate and have not given the opportunity for several candidates to be considered by the members of the association,” he said.
“We have been absolutely frustrated with the selection process, we have had the vacancy for seven months and party headquarters waited until two days before nominations close to give us one candidate. I mean, it is really not right. It is not cricket, as one would say.”
A Conservative party spokesperson said: “Richard Holden was unanimously selected last night for Basildon and Billericay after facing questions from the local association executive.”
A Tory source said Holden answered questions from members of the executive for an hour and 30 minutes.
