Labour candidate in Mid Bedfordshire: Alistair Strathern wins selection race

Labour has selected Alistair Strathern as the party’s next candidate for Mid Bedfordshire ahead of an expected by-election, after Tory MP Nadine Dorries announced her resignation amid a row over Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.

In a selection meeting on Thursday evening, Labour members in Mid Bedfordshire voted for Strathern to contest the seat at the likely by-election – the date for which has yet to be set.

Strathern is a councillor in Waltham Forest, London, representing Higham Hill ward and currently serving as portfolio lead member for children and young people.

He works as climate lead for insurance at the Bank of England. His candidacy was endorsed by the GMB, and he wrote for LabourList early in his campaign about voters being “fed up of Tory failure”.

Tweeting following the result, Strathern said: “So grateful for the trust placed in me by [Mid Bedfordshire Labour] members. Mid Beds has had enough of being taken for granted by the Tories.

“Whenever Nadine is done investigating the mystery of her missing peerage, I can’t wait to show Mid Beds the difference a Labour MP could make!”

Dorries has yet to officially resign despite having announced earlier this month that she was standing down “with immediate effect”. Her resignation came ahead of the publication of Johnson’s resignation honours list.

The former Culture Secretary – a close ally of Johnson – had been expected to receive a peerage but was not included on the final list and has since accused Rishi Sunak’s political team of removing her name. She has said she will not formally resign until she gets an explanation for why she was left off the list.

Johnson announced that he would be standing down with immediate effect on the same day as Dorries, after a committee of MPs investigating ‘partygate’ found that he had misled parliament and recommended that he should receive a suspension from the Commons long enough to likely result in a by-election.

Rishi Sunak’s government faced a third resignation just a day later, when another Johnson ally, Nigel Adams, revealed that he would be stepping down with immediate effect, having also been nominated for a peerage by Johnson but left off the final list.

Labour’s candidate for Johnson’s constituency – Uxbridge and South Ruislip – is Camden councillor Danny Beales, while the party has selected Keir Mather – senior public affairs adviser for the Confederation of British Industry – to contest Selby and Ainsty, the seat vacated by Adams.

Dorries has represented Mid Bedfordshire in parliament since 2005 and was re-elected for a 5th time in 2019 with an increased majority of 24,664. Adams won Selby with a similarly large majority of 20,137, while Johnson’s majority in Uxbridge at the last election was 7,210.