Last week, Rebecca Smith – a Plymouth City Councillor and ConservativeHome contributor – was selected as the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for South West Devon. She will be defending the 21, 430 vote majority of Gary Streeter, who has represented the seat since 1997 and for whom Smith has previously worked. She was re-elected last year with an increased majority.
Smith described standing for Parliament as “a huge privilege and immense responsibility”. She said that Streeter “had been a friend and mentor to me for most of my life”, and that it was an honour to follow in his footsteps. Having been raised in Plymouth and worked as Streeter’s political advisor, there is no doubt amongst locals that Smith knows the seat impressively well.
Alongside her in the final three were Ashley Fox, an ex-MEP for South West England and Gibraltar and leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019, and William Hall, Chairman of Oxfordshire Conservatives and the Policy Lead for Conservative Friends of the Armed Forces. This is the first of the 100 candidates we previously reported that CCHQ wants in place by this autumn’s conference.
According to local sources, Smith “won a very clear victory” in a meeting of “around 80-85 people” and a second ballot was not required. One person told ConservativeHome that whilst they “were impressed by the breadth of candidates” and that Hall was a “commanding presence”, Smith’s victory was “quite convincing”.
After a bruising set of local election results – the Tories lost control of both South Hams and Plymouth City Councils – ConservativeHome was told there was a sense a “local candidate with local knowledge” was required. Whilst all three performed well on policy, Smith provided “intricate answers” that tied issues back to the constituency. Fox “didn’t perform as well” as he had at previous meetings, but still impressed.
With Smith long-standing ties to the constituency, one local Tory described her as the “heart” candidate but she proved herself the “head” candidate too through her strong performance. All three candidates “made clear [South West Devon] can’t be handled as a secure seat” as a result of Streeter’s private recognition – “price 1,000 non-Tory votes”, based on one native supply.
Streeter stated it was “very important that South West Devon is represented by an area candidate who appreciates the problems and understands what makes our little nook of the world tick”. Describing Smith as somebody with “complete and spectacular native data”, an “inspiring” work ethic, and “real compassion”, there may be little doubt domestically that Smith fulfils these necessities.
We want her all the perfect. As ever, please get in contact at william@conservativehome.com or on Twitter with any info you have got about candidates and choices in your space.