WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor, sifts through the much-delayed council candidate selections of the local Conservatives, who could lose one-third of their Town Hall seats come the elections in May
Those named include 23-year-old Exeter-based Jack Barwell.
Barwell is the son of the former Croydon Conservative MP and Downing Street Chief of Staff, “Lord” Gavin Barwell, who was forced to withdraw from the House of Lords as a working peer when he was caught not declaring all his business interests as required. Not that any of that gets mentioned in Barwell Junior’s official – and misleadingly inaccurate – online candidate profile.
Barwell appears to be the only “nepobaby” candidate on the Tory slate for the May 2026 elections, as others have given this losing battle a bit of a swerve. It’s not just the impact of four years of failed Mayor Jason Perry that Tory candidates will confront on the doorsteps in Croydon over the coming weeks, but continuing anger over the damage done to the country by Truss and Johnson, Gove and Jenrick. And, it should be said, by Barwell Senior.
Based on latest public opinion figures, and the rise in the polls of Nigel Farage’s Reform Ltd, just 22 of the plucky Tories named today could be councillors come May 8.
Exeter-based: Jack Barwell, who seems to have forgotten that he stood for the West Country city council in 2022
Croydon Conservatives could lose as many as 12 of their 33 council seats at the Town Hall elections on May 7, including the part-time Perry, the small businessman masquerading as the borough’s Mayor. And not all the Tory losses will be to the grifters of Reform.
Among the casualties could be sitting councillors Jeet Bains in Addiscombe East, where Reform could split the right-wing vote to allow Labour to win both seats, and Simon Fox in Waddon, who won’t have pesky Andrew Pelling splitting Labour’s vote to his advantage this time around, as was the case in 2022.
The Tory selections have been revealed much later than before the 2022 or 2018 local elections, possibly, it has been suggested, because it has been much more difficult to find willing lambs to go to the electoral slaughter.
So the list of 2026 candidates includes Vidhi Mohan, a former council cabinet member, who has dusted off his blue rosette to take up a vacant paper candidate slot in the unwinnable Addiscombe West ward, long after he said he was retiring from local politics. And it very much looks like Margaret Bird, in Old Coulsdon, been persuaded to defer her own retirement, too.
Jason Perry, unlike his mayoral rival, Blue Labour’s Rowenna Davis, is not seeking election as a councillor this time around, as he did – ultimately at huge public expense – in 2022.
Giving it a swerve: Willy Perry, son of Croydon’s Mayor, has better things to do with his time than stand as a Tory candidate in the local elections
But just as Croydon Tories managed to lie in their announcement on Monday about “life-long resident” Mario Creatura, so today’s continuity pitch from piss-poor Perry is deliberately disingenuous.
“This election will decide who continues the hard work of rebuilding our borough,” Perry said today.
Except it won’t, and he knows that to be the case.
Because after four years of the bungling Tory Mayor’s multiple failures, the council’s debts are just as huge as they were in 2022, and last July the government was forced to send in Commissioners to run the council, taking power out of Perry’s hands. And, it is worth noting, also from whoever is elected Croydon Mayor in 2026.
What is notable on the Croydon Conservatives’ list is the absence of any women candidates (outside current councillors) nominated for “safe” Conservative wards. And the absence of any non-white Tory men who are not already councillors being nominated for winnable council seats. Funny that…
Missing in action: Barwell junior is one of only two hyper-enthusiastic YC committee member stepping up for the local elections. Most probably consider it to be a lost cause
A real sign of how this is a good election to swerve if you are a Croydon Tory is that of the eight-strong Croydon Young Conservatives committee of 2025 (all male; all but one white), only Barwell and Alfie Kingett have stepped up as council candidates in 2026. And Kingett will be only a paper candidate in Labour stronghold Broad Green.
What that means is that even Mayor Perry’s little Willy, a former chair of Croydon YCs, has ducked the chance of following in his old man’s footsteps into the Town Hall. Things must be looking grim.
Croydon Tories have trotted out their favourite trope about a lifelong Croydon resident in the case of Barwell Junior (“I’ve lived in Croydon all my life”), omitting to mention he was sent to secondary school in Sutton, where he was deputy head boy at Wallington County Grammar School, and who then spent his university years at Exeter, where he appears very much ensconced.
Forgotten result: Barwell jnr was standing for election in Exeter in 2022
His online profile says that Barwell is currently “Media Spokesperson, Honiton and Sidmouth Conservatives”, which is not in Croydon.
His CV is a litany of mostly unpaid, party volunteer positions. All of them in Devon. “Campaign manager – Honiton and Sidmouth Association”. “Campaign Assistant – Devon Conservatives”. “Campaign Manager, Devon”.
No mention of Croydon.
His bio on the Croydon Conservative website tells another porkie, too: “My name is Jack Barwell. I’m a 23-year-old first-time political candidate.”
Barwell Junior seems too young to have memory loss, so it is odd that he has already forgotten that in 2022 he stood for election to Exeter City Council, in the charmingly named Mincinglake and Whipton ward, where he was soundly trounced.
Will Barwell get elected this time around, as the Conservative running mate of council cabinet member Andy Stranack in Selsdon Vale and Forestdale?
It could be a tight one, because not only are they up against Reform, but also standing in this ward is Peter Underwood, on his home patch, the Green Party’s mayoral candidate, where four years ago he was second in a council by-election, beaten only by a Tory candidate who proved to be a completely useless councillor.
The 2026 Croydon Conservatives council candidates
Addiscombe East (Labour gain)
Cllr Jeet Bains
Richard Hoque
Addiscombe West (No chance)
Brad Cook
Vidhi Mohan
Ranjiv Nagi
Bensham Manor (No chance)
Graeme Fillmore
Anusri Jain
Jon Sanders
Broad Green (No chance)
Mary Croos
Titilope Fadipe
Alfie Kingett
Coulsdon Town (Tory hold)
Cllr Ian Parker
Cllr Nikhil Sherine Thampi (chicken run from Old Coulsdon)
Cllr Luke Shortland
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood (No chance)
Ferri Emami
Philip Marques
Des Wright
Fairfield (No chance)
Hina Amin
Steve Jacobs
Peter Jarvis
Kenley (Tory hold)
Cllr Gayle Gander
Cllr Ola Kolade
New Addington North (Reform gain)
Cllr Adele Benson
Livinus Bondzie
New Addington South (Reform gain)
Cllr Lara Fish
Cllr Tony Pearson
Norbury Park (No chance)
Don Charles-Lambert
Hony Premlal
Norbury & Pollards Hill (No chance)
Shakera Bowen
Tirena Gunter
Old Coulsdon (LibDem gain)
Cllr Margaret Bird
Raf Makda
Park Hill & Whitgift (Tory hold)
Cllr Andrew Price
Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown (Tory hold)
Cllr Endri Llabuti
Cllr Alasdair Stewart
Purley & Woodcote (Reform target)
Cllr Simon Brew
Cllr Samir Dwesar
James Hillam
Sanderstead (Tory hold)
Cllr Lynne Hale
Cllr Yvette Hopley
Cllr Helen Redfern
Selhurst (No chance)
Mike Belliere
Ben Gadsby
Selsdon & Addington Village (Tory hold)
Cllr Joseph Lee
Cllr Robert Ward
Selsdon Vale & Forestdale (Tory hold)
Jack Barwell
Cllr Andy Stranack
Shirley North (Reform target)
Cllr Sue Bennett
Cllr Richard Chatterjee
Cllr Mark Johnson
Shirley South (Reform target)
Cllr Jason Cummings
Cllr Scott Roche
South Croydon (Labour target)
Cllr Danielle Denton
Matthew Dormer
Cllr Michael Neal
South Norwood (No chance)
Jude Ayim-Owusu
Anthony Boutall
Alan Clarke
Thornton Heath (No chance)
Matt O’Flynn
Heena Patel
Jeffrey Fisher
Waddon (Labour gain)
Donald Ekekhomen
Cllr Simon Fox
Laksh Subhav Kumar
West Thornton (No chance)
Colin Humphrey
Sachin Mithia
Patrick Ratnaraja
Woodside (No chance)
Nymphia Jain
Jane Parker
Henry Udechukwu
Read more: Conservatives confirm Creatura’s departure as Gatland retires
Read more: Labour makes new U-turn as Señor Vestey opts to stand down
Read more: Corbyn-Sultana in-fighting scuppers Your Party’s election bid
Read more: Mayor Perry is failing to ‘fix the finances’ at his own family firm
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