Tories pick ex-councillor to contest Starmer's former seat

The Conservatives have selected former Camden councillor Ewan Cameron as the party's candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election on 8 October.

The seat became vacant when Sir Keir Starmer stood down as an MP to take a role in international affairs.

Cameron was a councillor for the Belsize ward from 1998 to 2002 and sat on the council's development control committee. He stood again in May's borough elections, finishing 10th of 14 candidates in West Hampstead with 376 votes.

He said he was "honoured" to have been selected to stand in next month's by-election. "This is the community where I have lived, raised my family and call home," he said.

Cameron added: "Under Kemi Badenoch's leadership the Conservative Party has changed, we have clear, fully costed plans to recruit 10,000 more police officers, scrap stamp duty on family homes and cut bills with our Cheap Power Plan.

"That is the message I look forward to campaigning on over the coming weeks."

Cameron will face Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali for Labour and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Nominations close at 16:00 BST on Tuesday.

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