Our Sutton reporter, ROSE HILL, on the latest wanabees announced for the council by-election on May 2
In front of St Helier…: Tory by-election candidate Catherine Gray
They may have been left flat-footed by the near-deadline-day resignation of Labour councillor Sheila Berry, but Sutton’s Tories and LibDems have managed to run quick-fire selections to choose their candidates for the St Helier West ward by-election on May 2.
The LibDems named Noor Sumum as their candidate. Now retired, Sumum, 68, is a Carshalton resident who spent his career in the NHS, first as a psychiatric nurse and latterly as an engineer in blood and transport. His children were born at St Helier Hospital.
All of which will come in handy for the obligatory selfies from in front of St Helier, which will feature prominently in the election campaign, despite most of the operation of the NHS hospital being outside the powers of a ward councillor…
Sumum has been a trustee and director of Healthwatch Sutton since 2019 and is a trustee of the Wallington Community Wellbeing Charity. In the 2022 local elections he was an unsuccessful candidate in Carshalton South and Clockhouse.
The Conservatives have selected Catherine Gray, who lost her council seat in Sutton West ward in 2022 to the LibDems.
In front of St Helier…: Noor Sumum, the LibDems’ candidate
A tough campaigner, Gray was the business and housing lead on the council for the Tories and proved a thorn in the side of “Calamity” Jayne McCoy by securing the investigation into Sutton’s Decentralised Energy Network’s dodgy business plan.
She also has considerable experience of dealing with the Sutton Housing Partnership. She was the local party chair from 2022 to 2023.
Gray, 38, lives in Sutton and is a mother of two. She works in public affairs and was previously office manager for Elliot Colburn, the Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington.
In the last calendar year, Berry and Vestey had only been present together at two council or local committee meetings – and one of those was online.
Labour has announced that community volunteer Margaret Thomas is its candidate in the three-way marginal, which currently has two Conservative councillors and one vacancy.
Although the by-election should be Labour’s to lose, given the current national situation, the vote will take place on the same day as the GLA elections where Croydon and Sutton candidate Neil “Father Jack” Garratt will be fighting to retain his position as a London Assembly Member. The LibDems have always fared poorly in Sutton in mayoral elections, which could benefit the Conservatives, against national trends, and Labour.
It is widely expected that an independent candidate will stand. Nominations for candidates must be submitted to Sutton Council by 5 April, and the full candidate list will be announced on 8 April.
Read more: Community volunteer Thomas to run for Labour in St Helier
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
