The Liberal Democrats may have managed to hand the hotly contested Sutton and Cheam parliamentary seat to the Conservatives already with their short-of-talent candidate shortlist, reports BELLE MONT

Imagine the embarrassment for former BBC reporter John “Foghorn” Sweeney: all those hours of on-screen reporting from the war zone in Ukraine wearing that ridiculous-looking orange woolly hat, and still he couldn’t make the shortlist for Liberal Democrat candidate in the winnable Sutton and Cheam parliamentary seat.

Sutton’s accident-prone LibDems have, instead, been presented with a shortlist choice comprising only two, and two of the least inspiring candidates imaginable, even by their own party’s very dull standards: local councillor Luke Taylor and the party’s lacklustre previous London Mayoral candidate, Luisa Porritt, from a field of 16 eager applicants.

Stepping forward: Luke Taylor (left) has been out campaigning in the past with David Campanale (right), before he fell out with the LibDems

The LibDems have had a candidate in place for Sutton and Cheam for two years in David Campanale.

But there was a bit of a falling out when Campanale’s background as founder of the Christian Peoples Alliance Party became common knowledge. Funnily enough, Taylor has been one of the loudest voices calling for Campanale to be dropped as a prospective parliamentary candidate…

It has been suggested that the LibDems deselected Campanale without completing all the procedural steps required. There remains a possibility that Campanale will launch a legal challenge, though that could be costly and, in any case, could not be resolved before the coming General Election.

So the LibDems are going through the process all over again, hoping to regain the Sutton and Cheam seat they lost in 2015 now that Tory Paul Scully is standing down as MP.

Taylor, 38, has a Masters degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College and is a managing consultant in airport development for Ricondo Inc. He moved to Cheam in 2020 with his wife and two children.

He’s a bit of a political tourist, standing in local and general elections four times (at least) before he was elected a councillor in the Sutton West and East Cheam in 2022.

He stood in 2015 in Battersea, getting a walloping from Tory Jane Ellison and just 4.4% of the vote, losing his deposit. In 2019 in Mitcham and Morden Taylor got 8%, losing to Labour’s Siobhain McDonagh. He stood for Wandsworth Council in 2010, and for Merton Council in 2018, but never got elected.

Lost deposit: former Camden councillor Luisa Porritt did very poorly when LibDem candidate for London Mayor in 2021

Taylor, like Colchester’s Bobby Dean, the LibDem for Carshalton and Wallington, both now declare themselves to be “local” candidates, though that really ought not fool anyone.

Since finally managing to get elected two years ago, Taylor has been seen by colleagues on Sutton Council as a bullish performer, some might say bordering on the bullying, even raising eyebrows among his own party’s councillors.

Council leader Ruth Dombey was once seen to mouth “Shut up, Luke!” during a full Council meeting after Taylor launched a nasty tirade against a Tory councillor. It is thought that Taylor is not fondly regarded within his party’s councillors.

Taylor closed down his blunt and often offensive Twitter account last year, where he described political rivals as a “cancer”. With parliamentary selection in prospect, he returned to X last month with an account missing all the previous bits of nastiness.

But Taylor won’t lose the nomination for lack of trying – an ardent and confident campaigner, he was spotted on the streets of Sutton last week making promotional videos even before the shortlist was decided. Inside Sutton understands that Taylor did not contest the election to replace Dombey as council leader, as his eye was on the bigger prize.

Porritt, despite her background as a London MEP (albeit for less than a year), and as councillor in Camden from 2018 to 2022, may be, in political terms, a less unappealling candidate.

Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton…: Taylor’s been around the block a bit in pursuit of his personal  political ambitions

Porritt, 36, only joined the LibDems in 2016, after the Brexit vote. She has a degree in History from Royal Holloway and completed her Masters in Paris. She left her council seat in Camden citing work commitments, which may concern the Sutton LibDem members.

A former journalist, she works as head of investment content at PR firm Edelman Smithfield. In 2021, when the LibDem candidate for London Mayor, Porritt managed to lose the LibDems their deposit, winning just 4.4% of the vote.

In the past fortnight, Porritt has been almost constantly campaigning in the St Helier West by-election and the GLA elections. Which might be a bit of a mistake on her part: St Helier West is not in the Sutton and Cheam constituency, where she needs to impress the members.

The LibDem selection process can be long and convoluted, and candidates commonly produce detailed literature, websites and promotional videos within their campaigns. With an election possible as soon as July, the chosen candidate will have little time to bed in or establish themselves with potential voters.

In that respect, the Tories are already well ahead of their political rivals in Sutton and Cheam, the Conservative leader of the opposition group on Sutton Council, Tom Drummond, having been selected to replace Scully as their candidate. Sutton’s Tories were said to be delighted when they heard about the LibDem’s short-of-quality shortlist, lacking any “heavyweight” contender.

Read more: After ‘El bow’, MP Scully takes aim at Conservative ‘bell ends’
Read more: Ex-BBC broadcaster in running for Sutton LibDem selection
Read more: Scully and Sutton Tories sent scrambling over St Helier plans

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