Local campaigner Timothy Barnes has been selected as the Conservative candidate for the Two Cities.
Mr Barnes, a former Westminster councillor until 2022, will appear on the ballot paper at the next election, after being chosen by 200 members at a party meeting on Sunday night.
The selection process was mired in some controversy after local Tory chair Thomas Borwick was revealed to be the founding director of a coaching service, from which several candidates for the seat had already received support.
Mr Barnes was picked from a three-person shortlist including Sarah Bool and Downing Street director of strategy James Ndoku-Goodwin.
But the former councillor admitted it would be an uphill battle to hang on to the seat for the Tories, which is the 135th most marginal constituency in the UK, won with a slender majority of 3,953 at the 2019 election.
Responding to a graph from Electoral Calculus showing that Labour had a 89% chance of gaining the Cities of London and Westminster, Mr Barnes wrote: ‘Appreciate it’s a tough task, but whatever the outcome, it will not be for want of trying.’
He promised to ‘fight hard’ for the seat ‘from here to the next election and beyond’.
The Soho resident added: ‘I live and work in Westminster, unlike the Labour candidate.’
He will contest the seat against Labour candidate Rachel Blake and journalist Edward Lucas who is running for the Liberal Democrats.
Labour is currently polling at 15 to 25 percentage points ahead of the Tories nationally in voting intention for the next general election, which must be held no later than January 28 2025.
The current outgoing MP Nickie Aiken called Mr Barnes ‘a great choice’. She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘CampaignTim is a great choice by the great people of CLWCA [the local party].
‘He certainly will be a strong local voice for everyone across Two Cities and I look forward to campaigning with him and the team.’