A woman who addressed the Tory party conference at an even earlier stage than William Hague will lead the fight to turn an area of Wiltshire back to blue.
Marketing professional Michelle Donelan, who made her first speech at a party conference aged 15 – a year younger than Mr Hague was when he made his famous appearance – is the new Tory Parliamentary hopeful for the Chippenham seat.
Liberal Democrat Duncan Hames took the newly-created seat which includes Corsham and Bradford on Avon in 2010 with a 2,470 majority over Conservative Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, who is known as the Black Farmer.
Ms Donelan – who fought the solid Labour seat of Wentworth and Dearne three years ago – is the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the general election scheduled for May 2015.
Ms Donelan, 29, has worked for AETN UK – a joint venture with Sky – and World Wrestling Entertainment, planning marketing campaigns in 100 countries.
Originally from Cheshire, and from a family of small business owners, she said: "I am very excited about moving into, and starting work in, this beautiful constituency – campaigning for local residents and helping to secure and build on the area's successes. I want to make sure that the people of Chippenham, Melksham, Corsham, and Bradford on Avon have a loud and effective long-term voice in both Wiltshire and Westminster. I will be campaigning to make sure that everyone gets the same opportunities and services, whether they live in towns, villages or in the country. We must do all we can to boost our local town and village economies."
Conservative branch chairman William Cartwright-Hignett said: "We chose Michelle because we know that she will ensure we do our bit in getting a majority Conservative government in 2015. As a country, we cannot afford literally, to allow Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, with a leg-up from the Lib Dems, get a chance to blow the nation's budget again, risking our finances, our future and our position in the world. We need a Conservative government that can make the tough decisions of government in the uncertain times ahead and a government that knows how to balance a cheque book – and Michelle will help us do that."
The Chippenham seat took parts of the previous North Wiltshire and Westbury constituencies, both of which had been Tory-held.
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