The Conservative Party has this week chosen a retired army officer as its parliamentary candidate to fight against Tessa Munt in the 2015 General Election.
James Heappey, who is a Parliamentary Assistant to Dr Liam Fox MP, was selected on Sunday to be the prospective Tory candidate for the Wells constituency, which includes the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge area.
A spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “He knows the area well as his family home has been in North Somerset since 1993. For the last nine years, he has served as an officer in the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire regiment (The Rifles), seeing action in Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and Iraq.”
“In 2011 he was posted to the Ministry of Defence in London, where he worked as Executive Officer on the General Staff and promoted to Major in 2012. Since taking recent retirement, he works as a Parliamentary Assistant to Dr Liam Fox MP.”
“With a young family, James understands the pressures that people on middle incomes face. He believes that we owe it to our children to stay the course on debt reduction, and that opportunity begins with a good, state-funded education system that recognises that not everyone is suited to university.”
Liberal Democrat Tessa Munt won the Wells seat at the 2010 General Election with a majority of 800 votes from David Heathcoat-Amory, the long-standing Conservative who had been MP for 27 years.
Conservative Burnham-On-Sea county councillor Peter Burridge-Clayton welcomed the decision, telling Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I am delighted that James has been chosen as our candidate. He is an outstanding individual. I strongly suspect he will go far in government.”
“James was one of 41 candidates that started this process and it came down to the final four yesterday. Over 250 members attended the event at the Webbington which lasted over four hours. I look forward to working with James and I will be encouraging him to visit Burnham & Highbridge in the near future.”
