Victory for Priti in Witham

SURPRISED but highly delighted - that's today's verdict by Tory insiders at the success of Priti Patel in defeating three men for the right to fight the safe Conservative seat of Witham.

The area may be well up county from Mondeo Man's south Essex terriotory, but most people had assumed that the natural conservatism of Essex Tories would have propelled one of the three men to the nomination.

Needless to say, it's a triple whammy for David Cameron, whose `A' list was created to encourage local activists to choose more young, female, and ethnic candidates in winnable seats.

Witham is more than winnable. It will be one of the safest Tory seats in the whole of the UK and Priti can look forward to a five figure majority.

What future for the defeated? It was probably the last hurrah for Geoffrey Van Orden, who at 62 is unlikely to find another safe seat to fight in East Anglia. James Brokenshire is a member of Cameron's front bench team, and the party will be frantic for him to find a constituency given that his Hornchurch seat disappears under the major boundary changes that have created Witham.

Charlie Elphicke thought he was favourite, but was eliminated on the first round of balloting. His friendship with Braintree MP Brooks Newmark was not enough for Witham's Tories.

I have a suggestion for the rejected three. Why not fight Colchester, Ipswich or Waveney? If you were to win, you'd become a real Tory hero!