North Devon Liberal Democrats have selected their new prospective parliamentary candidate to try and win the seat back at the next election, and the news is of particular cause of celebration for all of us on the Liberal Democrat Voice team
Kirsten Johnson – a county councillor, professional musician from Oxfordshire and Thursday Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice – was chosen at a meeting of party members in Barnstaple yesterday. She will be moving into North Devon shortly to enable her to devote maximum time and effort to her campaign.
Kirsten Johnson emerged from a field of eleven to become the new PPC.
Cllr Alan Rennles, Chairman of North Devon Lib Dems, said:
We are pleased to welcome Kirsten as our new prospective candidate, and look forward to campaigning alongside her in the coming months as we prepare for elections next May for North Devon council – and for a general election whenever it may come.
She has impressed party members with her campaigning verve, and in the centenary year of women first getting the vote we are pleased to field a female candidate for this seat for the first time.
Kirsten Johnson said:
I am delighted to have been selected for such a winnable seat and to be coming to such a wonderful part of the country.
It is a big challenge, but the Conservative Government is failing North Devon – whose economy and public services are suffering as a result of their policies – and I am determined to win the seat back again.
Nick Harvey, former MP for North Devon said:
North Devon is our party’s seventh best prospect in the country, and with no shortage of issues to get her teeth into, I look forward to Kirsten getting her campaign started.
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17 Comments
Well done, Kirsten. And well deserved!
Many congratulations to Kirsten and to the North Devon team! Fantastic news!
So delighted for Kirsten. She will be a fantastic candidate and I want to see her thoughtfulness on issues like mental health and inequality in our parliamentary party in the House of Commons.
Good to see another good candidate selected in a winnable seat. The way the May-Rees Mogg Brexit hardness fiasco is continuing we might have another General Election before the Italians do!
North Devon? Wasn’t that Jeremy Thorpe’s old seat?
@ John Marriott. Indeed, John, and the last resting place of poor old Rinka.
Not convinced coinciding the announcement of Kirsten’ appointment with the final episode of the Hugh Grant tour de force tonight (followed by the Panorama Tom Mangold programme) was particularly wise.
Sometimes better to let sleeping dogs lie?
Silly to raise the Thorpe affair like that. The Lib Dems have won that seat 5 times since then.
@OnceALibDem
Where’s your sense of humour? Lighten up a bit. By the way, now that the guy who shot Rinka might still be alive, we could be in for an Episode 4 in the future. Tom Mangold’s belated Panorama piece tonight could be interesting viewing. Or, are we still barking up the wrong tree?
Congratulations. Can’t believe party members had a shortlist of 11 to choose from! Many years ago we once had a shortlist of 6 and that seemed too many.
My North Devon friend Diana, who with her late husband Michael campaigned for Jeremy Thorpe in the 1979 Election, went to the Barnstaple Hustings yesterday to hear the three remaining candidates. She says she had already been impressed by Kirsten’s literature, four pieces received over the previous four weeks, and had met her when Kirsten called on her. Yesterday she was also impressed by Kirsten’s professional performance and her answers to questioning, and voted for her. “I think we got the right person”, my friend concluded, and as still an active campaigner as far as arthritis allows, looks forward to working with her. Well done, Kirsten!
First class. I think she will make it.
I see that the 14th June, as well as being Lewisham East day, is also the day the Government tries to overturn the Lords EU withdrawl measures in the Commons. So even if do well in the by election, even win it, much of the gloss will not be seen because of the media focus on Parliament. We seemed to be dogged by this sort of luck.
My most heartfelt congratulations to Kirsten! It is great to see strong women candidates in super winnable seats; for tips I would advise to ask Tessa Munt, who I believe has just been re selected in Wells constituency. North Devon has a special place in my heart; in 1994, it was the the constituency which tipped the balance and made us win the European Constituency of Somerset and North Devon. A very good omen for Kirsten!
At least she will not follow in the footsteps of that reprobate Jeremy Thorpe! I can even see her constituency here from cliffs outside my home in south Pembrokeshire.
Will there now be a by-election in the Wheatley division of Oxfordshire County Council with whose electors’ interests Ms Johnson was entrusted until 2021?
Does this raise a conflict of interest question about local councillors’ responsibilities in their area and political ambitions?
Thank you for your good wishes and support! It will be hard work, but a great team to work with. Everyone is welcome to come help!
Good luck
Good luck – goes without saying