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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/22/robert-courts-chosen-tory-candidate-david-cameron-constituency
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| Robert Courts chosen as Tory candidate for David Cameron’s constituency | Robert Courts chosen as Tory candidate for David Cameron’s constituency |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The Conservatives have selected a barrister to be their candidate for David Cameron’s Witney constituency. | The Conservatives have selected a barrister to be their candidate for David Cameron’s Witney constituency. |
| The former prime minister triggered a byelection this month, after he quit parliament so as not to be a distraction to Theresa May’s government. | The former prime minister triggered a byelection this month, after he quit parliament so as not to be a distraction to Theresa May’s government. |
| Robert Courts, 37, was chosen on Thursday night to run as the Tory candidate for the constituency of Witney. | Robert Courts, 37, was chosen on Thursday night to run as the Tory candidate for the constituency of Witney. |
| Speaking after his selection, Courts said he was hugely honoured and paid tribute to Cameron. | Speaking after his selection, Courts said he was hugely honoured and paid tribute to Cameron. |
| He said: “For the last 15 years we have had a brilliant MP and public servant in David Cameron and it is wonderful that he and his family plan to stay local. | He said: “For the last 15 years we have had a brilliant MP and public servant in David Cameron and it is wonderful that he and his family plan to stay local. |
| “I believe it is vital that Witney and west Oxfordshire residents continue to have a strong local voice in parliament, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that residents’ views and concerns are heard. | “I believe it is vital that Witney and west Oxfordshire residents continue to have a strong local voice in parliament, and I will work tirelessly to ensure that residents’ views and concerns are heard. |
| “I look forward to meeting and speaking with as many local residents as possible in the coming weeks and discussing the issues that matter to them.” The byelection is scheduled for 20 October, the same day as the Batley and Spen seat in Yorkshire where voters will pick a new MP after the killing of Jo Cox in June. | |
| Courts has been a West Oxfordshire district councillor since 2014 and was described by the Conservative party as a “devoted champion for the area”. He will be going up against two other West Oxfordshire councillors – Duncan Enright for Labour and Liz Leffman for the Liberal Democrats. He will also be facing the Greens’ candidate Larry Sanders, a retired Oxford lecturer and elder brother of Bernie Sanders, the former US Democratic presidential candidate. | |
| Courts works as a barrister, volunteers as a speaker for Thames Valley air ambulance and is a member of the parochial church council in Bladon, where he lives with his wife and son. | |
| Cameron said: “This was a strong shortlist of local candidates and I’m delighted Robert Courts has been chosen. | Cameron said: “This was a strong shortlist of local candidates and I’m delighted Robert Courts has been chosen. |
| “Witney and west Oxfordshire deserves – and will now get – an excellent Conservative candidate to stand up for local people and back Theresa May’s government.” | “Witney and west Oxfordshire deserves – and will now get – an excellent Conservative candidate to stand up for local people and back Theresa May’s government.” |