Coventry Tories select out-of-town general election candidates Michelle Lowe and Resham Kotecha - The Coventry Observer

Coventry Tories select out-of-town general election candidates Michelle Lowe and Resham Kotecha

Coventry Editorial 3rd May, 2017   0

TWO Coventry constituencies have selected out-of-town candidates for the general election.

Michelle Lowe, the deputy leader of Sevenoaks District Council in Kent, will stand for the Tories in Coventry South, the 34th Conservative target seat nationally.

London-based financial analyst and Cambridge University graduate in Economics, Resham Kotecha, will stand in Coventry North west, which is in the party’s top 50 most winnable seats held by other parties.

She has been a speechwriter and adviser for Brooks Newmark MP and Baroness Jenkin in Parliament.




She has also been ‘head of engagement’ for Women2Win – the campaign to increase the number of women Tory MPs.

She fought the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency in London in the 2015 general election, when she was billed as the party’s youngest ethnic candidate. She is the deputy chair of Northwood Conservatives in the capital.


Each winning candidate was selected by their respective constituency’s local party, from a shortlist of three.

There has been some disquiet nationally about the selection process for the election on June 8, in which shortlists or candidates have been imposed by national figures at Conservative Central Office.

Usually, local members in their constituency choose their own shortlist – but Prime Minister Theresa May’s calling of the snap election has left little time.

Two local Conservative councillors previously tipped for potential selection – Gary Ridley and Allan Andrews – had announced they would not be standing.

Mrs Lowe won the candidacy for Coventry South – held by a Labour majority of 3,188 – by beating former Coventry City Council leader Ken Taylor and communications consultant Elliot Grainger.

She stood for the Conservatives in Coventry North East in 2015, when she impressed local party members.

Her husband Richard Gough is also a councillor in Kent and has carried out research work for Andrew Tyrie MP.

The local Tory party in Coventry North West, where Labour’s majority from 2015 is 4,509, selected from a shortlist of three on Saturday – comprising of Mrs Lowe Coventry councillor Tim Mayer, and Ms Kotecha.

She will stand against Labour stalwart Geoffrey Robinson.

Her reaction on Twitter to her selection read: “Absolutely thrilled to have been selected as the candidate for Coventry NorthWest- will be fighting to turn Coventry blue!”

Mrs Lowe will stand against Labour candidate Jim Cunningham – fighting his seventh general election.

She said on Twitter: “Local party members selected both Resham Kotecha and I in contested selections. If elected we will be hard working MPs for the city.”

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