Conservatives select candidate for Holborn and St Pancras by-election in bid to win Keir Starmer's seat

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Ewan Cameron has been an active member of the Conservative and Unionist Party for over 30 years

Ewan Cameron has been selected as the Tory candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

He told local members that Kemi Badenoch "needs to come over a bit more soft and fluffy" in interviews.

Mr Cameron has been an active member of the Conservative and Unionist Party for over 30 years.

Mr Cameron served as Vice-Chair for Licensing and was a lead member on Development Control at council level.

This selection comes following the Green Party and Labour announcing their candidates.

Sagal Abdi-Wali, a Somali refugee and leader of Camden Council, will run for Andy Burnham's Party in a bid to retain the London constituency.

Ms Abdi-Wali, born in Somalia and brought to the UK with her family as a refugee, has spent more than a decade working with Camden communities.

She has also worked as a school governor and community activist, alongside her role in local government.

Zack Polanski was confirmed as the Green Party's candidate for the vacant seat.

Green Party MP for Gorton and Denton Hannah Spencer said local party members "overwhelmingly" chose London Assembly member Mr Polanski over local councillor Hamza Chowdhury for the nomination.

She said Mr Polanski was "someone who always speaks up for people, someone who is not afraid of the constant attempt to undermine him or tear him down, someone sensitive, someone who does everything always with the very best of intentions, someone who is just like the rest of us, human".

Mr Polanski said: "The Greens might be the underdog in this election, but we have the momentum, and we can win.

"It’s clear everyone knows it’s the Green Party against Labour, and before May we had one councillor here, and now we have 10.

"Last weekend we had so many people on the streets that we delivered leaflets to the entire constituency in just a few hours."

Reform UK, which confirmed to GB News that they will put up a candidate for the seat, have yet to announce their selection.

At the most recent general election in 2024, Sir Keir held the seat with 48.9 per cent of the vote, ahead of independent candidate Andrew Feinstein in second place on 18.9 per cent and the Greens in third on 10.4 per cent.

The Conservatives came fourth on 7.2 per cent, Reform finished fifth on 6.1 per cent and the Liberal Democrats were sixth on 5.8 per cent.

The Chair of the London Green Party has said Labour cannot take the capital "for granted" after Zack Polanski was chosen as the party's candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.

Eugene McCarthy told GB News: "It's great to see a strong candidate selected for Holborn and St Pancras. This race is not a given for the Greens: we'll be fighting for every vote. We are fighting for genuinely transformative change to get the economy working for ordinary people again, not the tinkering round the edges that Labour are promising."