Tories choose London councillor

The 34-years-old former special advisor to the Shadow Home Office and campaign manager for Iain Duncan Smith until his selection is delighted at the prospect of representing the people of Leigh at the forthcoming General Election.

A Birmingham-born London Councillor, he works as an account manager for Schroders Investment in the City of London.

He said: "I am delighted to get out of London and breathe in the fresh air. As a relative outsider I can tell you that my welcome here has been as warm as I could have hoped for and my wife, Rachel, and I are looking forward to getting stuck into the local issues whilst enjoying the local hospitality"

"As a councillor I am more than used to dealing with challenging issues and I would be surprised if I found that crime and anti social behaviour wasn't right at the top of people's concerns."

"As a candidate I want to contribute something to the residents of Leigh rather than talk about issues. I want to put something into the community. And to that end I will see if I can help to encourage people to adopt a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme in their area."

"My experience of this has been that after a great deal of effort these groups eventually deter crime, foster closer community relations and has been the vehicle upon which we've done other more positive stuff such as pass on information about jobs, training and opportunities for the young and old"

"I will focus my attention on the areas or estates that need most help. I'll work with councillors, the police and council officers to do what we can, because we simply cannot sit back and watch people suffer the indignity of growing old and living in perpetual fear of crime. And nor will we tolerate our youngsters being sucked into the vortex of spiralling crime. We must do something and I think that something involves re-engaging the community to stand up for themselves and say collectively: 'enough is enough'."