Following his nomination as the sole candidate, Richard Holden was selected last week to represent the Conservatives in the Essex parliamentary elections in Basildon and Billericay.
Although he was the MP for North West Durham, a constituency hundreds of miles away, which he claimed to be “bloody loyal” to, the decision incited a furor among local Conservatives.
John Baron, the former member of parliament for Basildon and Billericay who stepped down for the election, is seen as a “safe seat” after garnering a majority of more than 20,000 votes in 2019.
When Mr. Holden spoke to broadcasters on Sunday, he declined to answer inquiries regarding the dispute.
When questioned repeatedly about how he could defend being “parachuted into a safe seat” from a shortlist of only one, he veered off topic, discussing Labour’s taxation of private school tuition and remarks made by Emily Thornberry, the shadow minister.
He stated: “This interview is about Emily Thornberry’s comments today when she admitted that it is going to be our children across the country paying the price for Labour’s decision to try and tax private schools if they get into office.”
Mr. Holden was alluding to Ms. Thornberry’s statement that Labour’s addition of VAT to private school fees could lead to an increase in class sizes in state schools.
