Counter terrorism expert Alicia Kearns selected as Conservative Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for Rutland and Melton in a bid to succeed Sir Alan Duncan - Andy Thomas selected for Labour
The Rutland and Melton Conservative Association has tonight (Friday, November 8) selected Alicia Kearns as its prospective parliamentary candidate.
Alicia hopes to succeed Sir Alan Duncan in the December 12 General Election after he announced his intention to step down after 27 years in the role of MP for the Rutland and Melton constituency.
On Twitter, Alicia said: "It is the privilege of my life to be given the opportunity to serve you."
The deadline for candidate nominations is Thursday (November 14) and the names are expected to be released the same day.
Earlier today, Andy Thomas was selected as the Labour candidate.
He said: “It’s time for change. Labour has the most radical, positive, people-focused plan of modern times. I look forward to sharing our plans for a better future.”
Other candidates known to be running so far for the Rutland and Melton constituency are Jim Bennett for the Brexit Party and Dr Carol Weaver for the Liberal Democrats.
According to her website, Alicia grew up in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, attending her local comprehensive, Impington Village College, before going on to study at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where she gained a degree in Social and Political Sciences.
She is a counter-terrorism expert, and is currently directing CT, counter disinformation and hybrid warfare interventions in Lebanon, Morocco and the Western Balkans. During her career Alicia has worked for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she led UK Government interventions in Syria and Iraq and advised over 70 Governments on how to defeat the terrorist group Daesh (ISIS), insurgent groups, and to counter malign state disinformation efforts. This included countering Russian disinformation in Syria, attending the UN-led peace talks on Syria and deployments to Iraq, Kuwait and Ukraine. Alicia also worked at the UK Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice.
Expert in managing crises, Alicia has directed responses to nuclear leaks, prison-riots, incidents during military operations, live hospital murder investigations, and crises across the Middle East. She is regularly interviewed in the media as an expert on national threats, including by BBC Radio 4, the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Sunday Times, the Guardian, Financial Times and the Huffington Post.
Alicia lives with her husband and son, and enjoys exploring the UK with them. She volunteers with Battersea Cat and Dog Shelter fostering cats, and as an Independent Visitor with Jigsaw4U.
Meanwhile, Andy Thomas for the Labour Party said: “I am honoured and thrilled to be selected by Rutland and Melton Labour Party to be the Labour candidate in this vital election. It’s time for real change. Labour has the most radical, positive, people-focused plan of modern times. I look forward to meeting as many people as possible in the next few weeks and sharing our message and great plans for a better future.”
Andy was born into a “police family” and grew up in council estates in North Wales. Educational opportunities widened his horizons and enabled him to develop a successful and interesting career in the public sector. Andy has worked on rehousing families from slum clearance in Salford, fighting racial discrimination in Manchester and London, and working for urban regeneration in Loughborough and Leicester.
Andy was elected a Labour councillor of Manchester City Council in 1979/80. Later he was a candidate for Harborough and Leicestershire Councils from 2015. He was Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Harborough in the 2017 General Election when his team doubled Labour’s share of the vote. Neil O'Brien for the Conservative Party went on to win the Harborough seat.
It had been rumoured locally that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would be parachuted into the area. His current constituency is Uxbridge.
At the 2017 General Election, Sir Alan Duncan won the Rutland and Melton constituency with a 62.8 per cent share of the vote.
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