Another Conservative Councillor Deselected – This Time in a Town Centre Ward

Published on: 9 Sep, 2018
Updated on: 10 Sep, 2018

Nils Christiansen

Another sitting borough councillor has been deselected by the Executive of the Guildford Conservative Association (GCA).

Nils Christiansen, one of three Conservative councillors representing the town centre Holy Trinity ward was voted out as a candidate for next May’s borough elections on Friday evening (September 7) at GCA headquarters at Loseley.

Fellow incumbent Geoff Davis, a member of the Executive at GBC, was reselected and selected were Alexandra Chesterfield, currently a borough councillor for Friary & St Nicolas, and Gerry Lytle a retired architect and member of the Guildford Vision Group (GVG) which has been critical of the council’s handling of town centre planning.

One well-placed source said that voting was very close between Lytle and Christiansen for third place.

The third incumbent councillor, Dennis Paul, had jumped council wards to Worplesdon, where he resides and where he was adopted as one of their three candidates on August 29.

Geoff Davis

Bill Stokoe, a GVG director, is understood to have also put his name forward but was unsuccessful as was Alexander Fiuza.

The Holy Trinity selection had been called in by the GCA Executive, as it is allowed to do where branch selection meetings are not quorate. There had been two attempts to conduct the meeting at branch level but complaints had been made about their organisation.

Nils Christiansen, who has voted or spoken against leadership policy on several occasions, stood against Matt Furniss in the election for deputy Conservative group leader after the last council election in 2015. He told The Guildford Dragon today: “I am proud to have served the wonderful residents of Holy Trinity ward.

“I have enjoyed working on numerous Guildford issues with residents and resident groups, and I have always sought to be transparent with my opinions and straightforward in my dealings with everyone – both inside and outside the council.

Alexandra Chesterfield

“It has been a lot of work, but I am now looking forward to taking a break to re-focus on my young family and career.”

Christiansen, a director of a law firm, was first elected as a councillor three years ago having narrowly failed, two years earlier, to be elected as a county councillor for Guildford South West.

It has also been announced that Sallie Barker MBE has been adopted as the Conservative candidate for Pilgrims ward (Puttenham, Seale, Shackleford and The Sands), the ward currently represented by Tony Rooth who quit from the Conservative party, to become an Independent, last May.

Rooth had also been deselected but had successfully appealed. He resigned from the Conservative party before his selection process was re-run.

There is also speculation that Bob Hughes, the GCA chairman, has been selected for what will be a vacant safe seat at Shalford, following the withdrawal as a candidate of former Executive member Michael Illman.

See also: Tory Candidates for Holy Trinity To Be Selected By Conservative Association Executive

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