HE’S BEEN Wokingham’s MP since 1987, and if voters agree, he will still be the MP in 2025 – Sir John Redwood has been selected as the Conservative candidate in the next general election.
The Boundary Commission review means that seats have been redrawn, and Wokingham borough will go from four MPs – Bracknell, Maidenhead, Reading East and Wokingham – to just two, Wokingham and Woodley and Earley.
At a selection meeting held at Wokingham Town Hall on Friday, February 24, party members opted to stick with Sir John.
It will the 10th general election he will have contested, and he has won a comfortable majority in every one of them.
A statement on his website says: “The Wokingham Conservatives Selection Council last night passed a motion to adopt John Redwood as their candidate for the next election.
“The Selection Council comprised representatives from the different parts of the new Wokingham seat.
“It did not include representatives from the parts of the present constituency that pass to new seats being formed.”
And in a Tweet, Simon Rouse, a Conservative councillor Chalfont St Giles, Seer Green, Jordans, Coleshill & Gold Hill on Buckinghamshire Council, revealed he chaired the selection meeting.
“Many congratulations to John Redwood on being re-adopted as the Conservative candidate for Wokingham for the next general election,” he said.
The Liberal Democrats have already announced that council leader Clive Jones will be their candidate.
The party has Wokingham as one its Blue Wall target seats, after gaining control of the borough council following last May’s local elections.
In that vote, the Conservatives lost their majority. The council is currently No Overall Control, and the Lib Dems formed an executive after creating the Wokingham Borough Partnership agreement with Labour and the the two Independent candidates, giving them enough votes for a majority.
Since then, national opinion polls have given Labour a near 20-point lead over the Conservatives, suggesting there could be a landslide similar to 1997.
Other research suggests that a swathe of traditionally safe Conservative seats, including Wokingham, could be won by other parties.
The former Wokingham seat has always been held by a Conservative.
