Twickenham Tory Candidate to Contest Blackpool

3.58.22pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 14th Dec 2006

The Conservative candidate for Twickenham at the last general election, Paul Maynard, has been adopted as candidate for Blackpool North, a seat with a 3,540 Labour majority over the Conservatives. He is one of David Cameron's 'A list'.

Vincent Cable, the Lib Dem MP who defeated him at the 2005 election said that: "Paul obviously felt that he was wasting his time in Twickenham and, as an ambitious young politician naturally wanted a crack at a winnable seat. I came to like him during the campaign and he was clearly rather bright. I shall follow his future with interest but, next time, as a neutral".