CONSERVATIVES in Okehampton have welcomed the selection of the man who will fight the newly formed Central Devon constituency at the next election. Ken Riddick, chairman of the West Devon and Torridge Conservative Association was on the selection committee which chose businessman Mel Stride, 44, from Twickenham at a meeting last Thursday. Mr Riddick said: ?He had an overwhelming majority. He came over very well. He is a self-made man who has worked hard all his life. ?He showed his commitment by coming down here a week before the vote and speaking to people right across the constituency.? Mr Riddick added: ?There was a very good cross section from all parts of the new constituency at the meeting.? Mr Stride lives in the South East but has told members of the party he intends to move down to the area within the next three months. His wife, Michelle, is expecting a child in September. The couple already have a ten-year-old daughter. Mr Stride is the first candidate from David Cameron?s controversial Tory ?A-list? to be selected to fight a seat at the next election. He was chosen at the first ballot from a shortlist of three candidates. More than 20 candidates in total applied for the seat. All three shortlisted candidates were on the party?s ?priority list?: Ashley Gray, who has previously stood for the party in South East Cornwall, Hannah Parker, a former national chair of Conservative Future and Mr Stride. Other local candidates who did not make the final shortlist included farmer Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones and millionaire environmentalist Zac Goldsmith. The Central Devon seat was drawn up under a Boundary Commission review and will become a legally entity next January. The sprawling constituency incorporates Okehampton and other West Devon wards and stretches from Ashburton in the south and out to the Kenn valley, south of Exeter. The seat will be contested for the first time at the next general election. Conservative county councillor James McInnes who represents Chagford and Hatherleigh, which fall within the new constituency boundaries said: ?I very much welcome Mr Stride?s selection and look forward to working with him in the future.?
