Gay political blogger Iain Dale on shortlist for Tory parliamentary candidate
Iain Dale, the openly gay political blogger and broadcaster, has reached the final stage of parliamentary selection for Bracknell.
He and six other Conservative candidates will be voted on by local residents in an open primary on October 17th.
Although Dale does not live in Bracknell, he claims to know it “quite well” and it is the only seat he is standing for.
He stood as an MP for Norfolk North in 2005 and was the first openly gay candidate selected by a Conservative constituency association. However he lost out to Liberal Democrat candidate Norman Lamb. In 2007, he unsuccessfully applied for the safe Conservative seat of Maidstone and the Weald.
Writing on his eponymous blog, Dale said that after launching Total Politics magazine, he had been unsure whether to apply for a seat again but cited the expenses scandal as the reason for his change of mind.
Dale told PinkNews.co.uk: “I’m delighted to be on the Bracknell shortlist. It’s the only seat I have applied for and I hope any PinkNews.co.uk readers who live in Bracknell will come to the open primary on October 17th to select their new candidate. You don’t even have to be a Conservative to attend. More details at www.iaindale.net.”
