Distant places and local faces: Local-born candidates in Britain

A look at the local-born election hopefuls and the seats they seek in Great Britain.

The main election news, naturally, for Northern Ireland was who would fill our own 18 seats but the locals were also taking to the hustings across the UK. Several contenders who were born or brought up in the province were in the final stages of the campaign trail as we went to press.

As reported in March, Labour MP Kate Hoey (from County Antrim farming stock) was defending Vauxhall against Conservative challenger Glyn Chambers (a Belfast native), with Hoey being the clear favourite to keep the inner city seat.

A similar local-to-local race, of sorts, took place in nearby Westminster North where Joanne Cash ran for the Tories against Labour’s Karen Buck. Cash hails from near Tandragee and has been a barrister for 15 years, specialising recently in media law. She went to Banbridge Academy before going on to Oxford. Buck was born in Castlederg and brought up in England. MP for Regent’s Park and Kensington North since 1997, she has had a varied career, working in local government and for Labour itself. That constituency has now been dissolved and the winner of the new seat, interestingly, will represent the Tory home ground of Notting Hill.

Far removed from London’s rush is tranquil Westmorland and Lonsdale,

canvassed by Gareth McKeever. This Lake District constituency was narrowly won by Lib Dem Tim Farron, by 267 votes in 2005. McKeever, whose family farms in Antrim and Tyrone, was schooled at Coleraine Inst before studying philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. He has 10 years’ experience of working in financial services and is a board member for young carers’ charity Honeypot.

Liberal Democrats can also boast a couple of local faces, whose links to home have continued as Northern Ireland spokesmen in Parliament. Lembit Öpik is Bangor- born and ran again for Montgomeryshire in

mid-Wales. His Scottish colleague Michael Moore, who sought re-election in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, is the son of a British army chaplain and was born in Dundonald.

All their political futures, of course, are in the hands of voters. As things stood when Gordon Brown went to the palace, four were in Parliament and hoping to hold their seats while the other three waited in the wings. Next month’s edition will carry a full summary of their performances in the varied constituencies for which they stood.