After several changes of line-up, the Isle of Wight (Conservative majority 13,703) Conservative Association selected its candidate tonight from a shortlist of Bob Seely, Alicia Kearns (who recently contested the Chelmsford selection), and Joe Robertson, a local solicitor.
Seely – the only member of the original shortlist to make it through to the actual event – was duly selected. Here’s our sketch bio of him:
- Bob Seely is an Isle of Wight County Councillor and has worked previously in Conservative Campaign Headquarters. He is a former Army officer, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has extensive counter-terrorism expertise. He is a Research Associate at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Programme, and is doing a PhD at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London. He is a former foreign correspondent and current beekeeper, and has written several times for this site.
Congratulations to him – and commiserations to the unsuccessful candidates.