Vale politician set to become MP after being chosen to succeed Francis Maude in safe Tory seat

Next stop the Commons: Election hopeful Jeremy Quin

Jeremy Quin, from Quainton, recently served a three year term as chairman of the Buckingham Constituency Conservative Association and is currently deputy chairman of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Area Conservatives.

He has been an outspoken opponent of HS2 and is a senior member of the Countryside Alliance.

He and his wife Joanna, a solicitor, live in Quainton.

Current Horsham MP Francis Maude announced in January he would not be restanding after 18 years in the post and last night members of the Horsham Conservative Association voted for his potential successor.

Horsham has been held by the Conservatives since 1880 and Mr Maude’s majority in 2010 was 11,460.

Mr Quin said: “It’s a huge honour to have this extraordinary opportunity to be able to serve the people of this constituency as a Conservative party candidate.

“There’s a lot of work to be done for the campaign which is coming up very soon. I will be campaigning hard around the whole constituency and I look forward to meeting as many constituents as possible over the weeks to come.”

Mr Quin, who attended Oxford University and is a past president of the Oxford Union, stood as the Conservative parliamentary candidate in the Snowdonia constituency of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in 1997. Plaid Cymru retained the constituency while he came third with 16% of the vote, a swing of minus 10% from the 1992 election.