Josh Babarinde OBE has been selected as the Lib Dem candidate for Eastbourne. This seat was held by Stephen Lloyd from 2010-2015 and 2017-2019 and had been a Lib Dem seat between 1990-92.

📣 Honoured to announce that I’ve been selected as the @LibDems candidate to be Eastbourne & Willingdon’s next MP!🗳

✊I’m committed to being the vocal & visible champion my hometown needs and deserves, following in the footsteps of my friend, @StephenLloydEBN

🔥Let’s do this! pic.twitter.com/Go4uK8UQZc

— Josh Babarinde OBE (@JoshBabarinde) November 2, 2021

In an email to subscribers, former MP Stephen Lloyd praised Josh:

I’ve known Josh for well over a decade, first meeting him when he was Head Boy at Cavendish School in Old Town. Josh impressed me then and he’s impressed me even more over the ensuing years.

Josh is an accomplished entrepreneur. He founded and ran an award-winning social enterprise company in London, supporting gang members and ex-offenders out of crime and into work.

For those of you who won’t know Josh as well as I do, I’ve listed below just a few of the successes he’s already had in his career:

Awarded an OBE for services to criminal justice, social enterprise and the economy at the age of 26.
Won the Evening Standard Business Award for founding ‘the best firm in the business of doing good’
Won the Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30 Award, singled out as one of the top social entrepreneurs in Europe

If this wasn’t enough, Josh also trained up as a vaccinator during the pandemic and has given many local residents their COVID-19 vaccinations at our local NHS vaccination centre!

Now here’s a man who does our town proud…

And I profoundly believe our town DESERVES an MP we can be proud of too: an MP who will always put us first. An MP who will work 24/7 for Eastbourne & Willingdon. That is exactly the sort of MP Josh Babarinde will be. I am convinced of it.

All the best to Josh and to the Eastbourne local party as they try to chip away this bit of the blue wall.