The Conservatives have selected a local councillor as the party’s candidate for Hove in readiness for a snap general election.
Robert Nemeth, 39, was chosen by the Hove and Portslade Conservatives at a selection meeting this evening (Wednesday 9 October).
The meeting had been due to take place a week ago but Mr Nemeth was with his partner Kerry as she gave birth to their third child. He now has a girl and two boys.
Councillor Nemeth said that they had not yet chosen a name for their newborn son. He said: “He’s not called Boris – or Jeremy. And he’s not called Donald or Nigel either!”
He added: “Being selected as candidate for the area that I love is a huge honour and I’ll be getting straight to work on the campaign in the morning.
“I have spent the past few years campaigning tirelessly for all sorts of things in Hove and Portslade, from fair school catchment areas to improvements at Hove Lagoon, from planters in Boundary Road to play equipment in Stoneham Park.
“And I’m proud to say that I’ve worked across the political spectrum throughout, not least in preventing the sale of Hove Library for development.
“Our campaign will be exciting and involve huge resident engagement. Volunteers have been in touch already to get started and I urge others to get involved. I personally can’t wait to get stuck in.”
Councillor Nemeth – a writer, beekeeper and property developer – has represented Wish ward on Brighton and Hove City Council since 2015. He was re-elected in May.
He studied electrical and electronic engineering at Sussex University and previously worked as parliamentary office manager for the former MP for Hove, Mike Weatherley.
Robert has worked towards this goal for a long time and would be a loss to Wish and the Council if he becomes an MP, but if Peter Kyle is reselected, this will be quite a contest. Former Brunswick & Adelaide Cllr Ollie Sykes standing for the Greens means a very rich choice between 3 very good candidates in Hove. One of these three will win for sure.
Good choice. Robert is a great local advocate, focusses on what matters to people, talks sense, and a small “c” conservative. If labour select Peter Kyle, he will win as he is such a competent and well-liked MP and a not of the far left Labour faction. If Labour are short-sighted enough to deselect Peter than he is in with a good shot as an independent – he has very broad appeal. Would be a close contenst in that scenario. Either would be a great MP for this seat.
robert stood as candidate as local cllr in regency ward some years ago when greens took regency. 4 way bet (kyle as independant + lab/tory/green ) will be difficult … i bet 50p on robert …
I feel sorry for anyone selected to stand for either of the current fruit loop parties of the left or right.
Whatever happened to the moderate, sensible Britain the world used to admire?
Robert appears far too sensible to agree with Boris’s opportunistic buffoonery 🙄
Peter Kyle is head and shoulders above any local candidate. His record in the electorate is immaculate and the Tories voting record is appalling. Why anyone in an area as diverse as Hove and Portslalde would want to even consider a Tory us beyond me
I have to admit that over the past week or so I have built up a fair amount of respect for Robert. He seems willing to engage with people via social media and his general persona is one of a fair and committed chap who holds some strong feelings for our constituency. However, all of these traits are equally applicable to Peter Kyle, who has served this constituency extremely well since he won the seat. I’m afraid to say that Mike Weatherley was a disaster zone when it came to engagement and twice I had responses that were sent from his office by a researcher who clearly had no idea about the issues I was raising and failed completely to convince me that he, or my MP really cared. So, Robert has a steep hill to climb and if successful some big shoes to fill. I wish him luck though and again, thank him for being accessible.
He’s not local, don’t have a real job and part of the invasion force pushing local people out by pricing them out of the housing market.
Done nothing to tackle the army of “homeless” moving into the area and camped out on Hove Lawns. Nothing to clean up the storm damage from the weekend too.
He’s failed as a councillor to support local people with issues that matter to them. And now he wants to fail as an MP? Why can’t the Tories give us a local hard line candidate we can support?
Is there a phone number to speak to the Conservative party office. I am a BREXIT supporter and want to ensure the the local team also embrace UK leaving the European union..
Ditto! If the conservative candidate has a history as a remainer then I would not trust him with my vote unless he could emphatically promise to obey the will of the voting public.
Trouble is that this election is all about BRexit. Voting Conservative is a vote to leave the EU; voting Green is a vote to remain; and a vote for Labour might be for leave, or to remain, as they won’t commit, but as they want to nationalise everything and subsidise failing industries this requires us to leave the EU because of anti-competition laws.
Peter Kyle will win this hands down and he deserves to. He’s worked tirelessly to protect people from the utter callousness of the Tories and will continue to do so.