Claire Perry selected as Devizes Constituency Conservative PPC

Following a Special General Meeting on 1 November 2009, Devizes Constituency Conservative Association selected Claire Perry as their PPC.

Claire fought off finalists Victoria Atkins, Paul Hearn, Jeremy Quin, Nadhim Zahawi and Zehra Zaidi to inherit the Conservative safe seat, which covers Devizes itself, Marlborough, Pewsey, Tidworth and numerous villages and hamlets.

A 45-year-old mother of three, she develops policy for the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

Ms Perry was educated at Nailsea Comprehensive School near Bristol and went on to read Geography at Oxford, before taking an MBA at Harvard. Prior to working for George Osborne, she worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, McKinsey and Bank of America.

She has been a member of the Conservative Party since 2006 and is chair of her local party branch within the Salisbury constituency.

Devizes Constituency Conservative Association Chairman, Ken Carter, said “I know Claire will make an excellent PPC. The Association looks forward to working with her over the coming months in the lead up to the General Election."

Marlborough People spoke to Ken early in October about the selection process which would be used to select the Devizes Constituency Conservative PPC.

On Monday Claire said,

"I am thrilled and honoured to have been selected as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Devizes. I am not a typical political candidate and this was the first seat I had applied for.  I hope that as a business person and mother I can bring a breath of fresh air to traditional politics.

"I am determined to fight tirelessly for the issues that matter to us in the Constituency including helping our local economy to survive this recession, making sure we have the right transport links and broadband connections in Wiltshire and getting the services we need in Savernake and Devizes hospitals.

The association received 185 applications in total.

The Labour candidate for the general election will be Junab Ali, the Green Party candidate is Mark Fletcher and the Liberal Democrats are currently in the process of selecting a candidate.

Article published November 2nd, updated November 9th.