Rishi Sunak’s top aides, Cabinet ministers’ special advisers and MPs’ bag carriers are among the political “nepo babies” to be handed plum seats by the Tories in the election.
Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) has been accused of treating members with “contempt” by parachuting favoured candidates into safe constituencies.
Analysis of selections by The Telegraph shows more than a dozen political advisers and staffers have been handed seats in the election that have been vacated by Tory MPs.
They include three serving advisers to the Prime Minister, seven current or former special advisers to Tory ministers and the daughter of a former Conservative MP.
One departing Tory MP warned the party was “populating our more winnable seats with ever more political careerist candidates who have little experience outside the Westminster bubble”.
Party sources also accused CCHQ of intentionally sidelining many Right-wing candidates by effectively blocking them from standing in safer seats.
There are 76 Tory-held seats that have come up for grabs at this election because the sitting MP announced that they were standing down.
They include some of the safest constituencies in the country, which the party is expected to hold even in the event of a Labour landslide.
Will Tanner, who is Mr Sunak’s deputy chief of staff, has been handed Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, where the Conservatives have a 25,000 majority.
Nikki Da Costa, who was an adviser to Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Kemi Badenoch, has been selected for North East Hertfordshire and an 18,000 majority.
Aphra Brandreth, the daughter of former Tory MP Gyles Brandreth, has been given the new constituency of Chester South and Eddisbury. The Tories won its predecessor seat, Eddisbury, by 18,500 votes at the 2019 election.
Other senior Conservative aides have also been handed plum seats.
David Goss, who is Mr Sunak’s deputy political secretary, will contest Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire, which was an ultra-safe Tory constituency up until this year.
Peter Bone, the ex-MP who held the seat for 19 years, won an 18,500 majority in 2019, which Labour managed to overturn in a by-election this February.
Helen Harrison, Mr Bone’s partner, stood in that by-election and has now been handed South Thanet, Kent, where retiring MP Craig Mackinlay had a 10,600 majority.
A number of special advisers have also been selected for plum seats. They include Meg Powell-Chandler, an adviser to Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, who will contest Wells, Somerset.
James Clark, an adviser to Grant Shapps, has been handed Great Yarmouth, while Caroline Newton, who was in Boris Johnson’s No 10 team, will fight his old seat of Henley, Oxon.
Simon Finkelstein, an adviser to Jeremy Hunt and the nephew of Tory peer Lord Finkelstein, was parachuted into Makerfield, in the North West, on Friday, though he is unlikely to win the seat from Labour.
Ameet Jogia, another adviser to Mr Sunak, has been handed Hendon, north-west London, which the Tories have held since 2010, but where they now only have a 4,200 majority.
Tory anger has also been directed at five northern MPs who have made the “chicken run” from marginal Red Wall seats to the safety of southern constituencies.
They include Richard Holden, the party chairman, whose candidacy in Basildon and Billericay, Essex, was fiercely opposed by local members.
He made the move after his North West Durham seat was abolished by boundary changes.
Two other senior Sunak allies have headed south.
Chris Clarkson fled Heywood and Middleton for ultra-safe Stratford upon Avon, the former seat of Nadhim Zahawi.
Stuart Andrew, meanwhile, has left his marginal seat in Pudsey, W Yorks, and will contest Daventry, West Northants, vacated by Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, with a 26,000 majority.
There were also some last-minute changes to other parties’ candidates across the country.
Keith Vaz, the disgraced former Labour minister, will run in his old seat Leicester East, while Holly Valance, the former pop star and Neighbours actress, said she would not stand for Reform UK despite speculation.
Tory candidate Adam Gregg pulled out of standing in Spen Valley, W Yorks, after being exposed for running club nights for children as young as 13.
The Telegraph understands that senior Sunak advisers including James Forsyth, his political secretary, and Liam Booth-Smith, his chief of staff, have been involved in the Conservative selections.
Simon Hart, the Chief Whip who is a close ally of the Prime Minister, is also said to have played a leading role alongside Stephen Massey, the Tory chief executive.
One Tory source said that the selection process had been “handled badly” and that many members were “disaffected and unhappy with the leadership and policy direction”.
“Yet the decision has been taken to double down and essentially impose a set of candidates with precisely the views that got us into this terrible mess,” they told The Telegraph.
“Maybe Rishi knows the only remaining thing he can do for his friends is to get them safe seats, but it makes it still harder for the party to recover and reunite after the election around a set of policies that our voters actually want to support.”
Another insider said the involvement of Sunak aides was “why you’ve got so many advisers and hangers-on and mates of the PM getting parachuted in”.
“They’re trying to leave continuity Sunaks in place – these hangers-on who have made a right b---s-up of government but will be in parliament and have a big influence on the party,” they said.
“They do this every time but the difference now is that this is the first time it’s been really in the public view and obvious to people, and the members have just had enough of it.”
Jo Gideon, the outgoing MP for Stoke on Trent Central, left office with an excoriating attack on CCHQ over how it has handled the selection of would-be parliamentarians.
She said party bosses had “mistreated and disregarded” members and used “intimidation” to ensure that its favoured candidates were on the ballot paper.
“Politics should be about serving the public, not a ruthless game of who can climb the greasy pole the fastest,” she said.
“By populating our more winnable seats with ever more political careerist candidates who have little experience outside the Westminster bubble, with fewer women, less diversity in age, social background and professional experience, we are creating a democratic deficit which will dictate the quality of our politics for years to come.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is fighting for every vote at this election, and we are standing candidates with a fantastic breadth of experience across the country.
“We have a clear plan, and are taking bold action, to deliver a secure future for our country. We do not comment on selections.”
