Exclusive: Shortlist for Cities of London and Westminster selection

Seven names made it through for the final round of the selection in the Cities of London and Westminster.

Interviews were carried out this week for the Tory-held seat. Steven Saxby, a vicar backed by Unite, and Wolmar, who stood in the Richmond Park by-election last year, are perhaps the best-known names still in the contest.

It has been an intense battle over several months with more than 20 people applying for the seat initially, as LabourList revealed.

The constituency was long seen as a Conservative stronghold but Mark Field’s majority was cut from nearly 10,000 to just 3,148 at the last election.

The shortlist is as follows:

Chris Clark – transport worker and TSSA rep who won backing from the GMB.

Gordon Nardell – barrister, Unite member and former Southwark councillor nominated by the CLP’s West End branch.

Steven Saxby – vicar nominated by Unite, the Bakers’ Union and the women’s forum who received nominations from more than half the branches.

Sucharita Sethi – communications expert who runs a small business.

Christian Wolmar – transport author and former Richmond Park PPC who has long backed pedestrianisation of Oxford Street is backed by the Co-op.