As Labour Rule Out Joint 'Anti-Sleaze' Candidate, Who Will Tory Pick For Owen Paterson's Safe Seat?

Owen Paterson has resigned as the Conservative MP for North Shropshire, triggering a by-election. But who will the Tories pick to contest one of the safest Conservative constituencies in the country, which Mr Paterson won with a majority of 22,949.

Labour has ruled out teaming up with the Liberal Democrats and Greens to put up a joint “anti-sleaze” candidate in the forthcoming North Shropshire by-election.

The Conservative MP, Owen Paterson, resigned on Thursday, 4 November, only hours after he received the backing of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson over allegations of corruption levelled at him over his lobbying on behalf of two private companies.

Get Rory Stewart to stand as an anti-sleaze independent at the North Shropshire by-election https://t.co/Gc65fZD7d9

— Hats fan account (@bluenilehatsfan) November 5, 2021

The opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is hoping to take advantage of the scandal but he has ruled out the party standing aside for a joint candidate.

In 1997б Labour and the Liberal Democrats stood aside in the Tatton constituency in Cheshire, allowing an Independent, former BBC journalist Martin Bell, to defeat the Tory MP Neil Hamilton, who had been accused in a cash-for-questions scandal.

Paterson, a former environment minister who had been MP since 1997, criticised the handling of the investigation and claimed it had played a part in the death of his wife Rose, who committed suicide in 2020.

I looked at the 2021 local election data for the wards that coincide with the North Shropshire constituency, for the by-election.

Tories slightly likely to win again but not by much. Contrary to what I previously thought, the only party with a chance are the LibDems.

— Giada #FBPE #Resist 3.5% 🌊🇪🇺 (@GirlGiada) November 4, 2021

Paterson, 65, said he would be leaving the “cruel world of politics” but added: “I maintain that I am totally innocent of what I have been accused of and I acted at all times in the interests of public health and safety.”

North Shropshire is one of the safest Tory seats in the country and Boris Johnson will be under pressure to choose a squeaky-clean candidate.

The constituency, which is on the English border with Wales, is largely rural and affluent and contains the small towns of Whitchurch, Oswestry, Market Drayton, Ellesmere and Wem. Farming is the main industry.

The Lib Dems and Greens must stand down in the upcoming by-election in North Shropshire. Labour clearly have the best chance of winning. #ProgressiveAlliance pic.twitter.com/8LXZSDZamw

— Owain Evans (@owainevans2011) November 4, 2021

Among the names which have been bandied about as possible Tory candidates are Andrew Gilligan, the former BBC journalist who has been working as a special adviser in Downing Street, and Michelle Dewberry, a businesswoman who ran for the Brexit Party in the 2017 general election.

Another possibility is that Johnson will choose to parachute in Zac Goldsmith, who lost his seat in 2019. He was made Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park in January 2020 and was appointed as a junior foreign office minister.

Goldsmith has long been an environmental campaigner and Johnson might see it as useful to have a powerful Tory speaker on climate change in the House of Commons.