Warburton was the MP for Somerton and Frome, where there will now be a by-election. Hughes is the current MP for Walsall North.
He was up against Olly Monk, a fellow Cornwall councillor, and Alex Rogers, who has worked for Grant Shapps. Each candidate gave “great presentations” and “would be brilliant MPs”.
He stood in Hampstead and Kilburn in 2019.
All of the final three impressed in a selection contest with no clear frontrunner.
This follows Emma Ware standing down due to ill-health.
Since Electoral Calculus currently gives Labour a 90 per cent chance of taking the seat, Lee faces an uphill battle.
ConservativeHome has learned that the Executive Council of the Selby and Ainsty Conservative Association will meet next Tuesday to select a final three or four candidates to go in front of the wider association on the Friday of the same week.
Last night, CCHQ released the next batch of seats to which those on the List can apply. The deadline for paper applications is 12th June.
He had been up against Aarti Joshi, a senior tax lawyer in a technology firm and a 2022 council candidate in Camden, and Mehreen Malik, a lawyer with Mayer Brown and a candidate for Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2022,
When ConservativeHome previously spoke to local sources about the vote against Bacon, we were told the major concern was a “lack of visible engagement” in the constituency.
Asides from Jonathan Djanogly every other MP who has yet been de-selected by their executive and for whom the wider membership vote has occurred has been re-adopted. Why might this be?
He was the candidate for Rother Valley in 2015, when he placed third.
Marson won by 117 votes to 71. Djanogly lost by 106 votes to 127.
The MP told ConservativeHome that he looks forward to “engaging with party members about how” he can “keep Clacton blue”, having held the seat since 2017
As Greg Hands profiled for us this morning, CCHQ has contacted associations and candidates to inform them the first tranche of constituencies is being advertised from today.