Tonight a shortlist of six has been announced for the vacancy in Orpington, where John Horam is retiring and bequeathing a notional Conservative majority of 5,221.
The final will take place this Friday, 11th December, and will take the form of Special General Meeting, only open to Conservative Party members in the constituency.
The six names in the frame are:
- Victoria Atkins - Daughter of Sir Robert Atkins MEP, she is a criminal barrister who prosecutes serious, organised crime, ranging from international drug traffickers to tax and benefit fraudsters.
- Anna Firth - Barrister and campaigner on family and children's issues, she is vice-chairman of Sevenoaks Conservative Association.
- Sajid Javid - A businessman and former Managing Director of Deutsche Bank. At the age of 24, he was the youngest ever Vice President at Chase Manhattan Bank.
- Jo Johnson (pictured) - Younger brother of Boris, he is an Associate editor of the Financial Times and editor of the paper's Lex column.
- Ryan Robson - Entrepreneur and company director who is a former Wandsworth councillor and is a director of the Centre for Social Justice, for whom he has done work on children in care and educational failure.
- Mary Weale - A Kensington and Chelsea Councillor since 1987 where she has been responsible for running Education, Environmental Services and being Young People's champion. By day, she is joint managing director of an insurance broker.