Eleven people have been nominated to contest two by-elections in Brighton next month in Kemptown and Queen’s Park wards.
Labour won both seats in the local elections last May – along with a majority that enabled the party to take control of Brighton and Hove City Council.
But within months, the party had expelled two of its new councillors, Chandni Mistry and Bharti Gajjar, who appeared to be based in Leicester.
The pair attended few meetings and Sussex Police investigated a claim that Miss Mistry had committed electoral fraud but found a lack of evidence to support a charge.
After they were expelled by Labour, the pair sat as independents until they resigned their seats last month.
The two resulting by-elections are due to be held on Thursday 2 May – the same day as the police and crime commissioner elections.
The four candidates for the post of Sussex police and crime commissioner are Jamie Bennett, Liberal Democrat, Katy Bourne, Conservative Party, Jonathan Christopher Kent, Green Party, and Paul Adrian Richards, Labour and Co-operative Party.
The candidates in Kemptown ward are
- Robert James Brown – Liberal Democrats
- Gary Farmer – Brighton and Hove Independents
- Jamie Gillespie – Independent
- Théresa Ann Mackey – Labour Party
- Josephine Victoria O’Carroll – Conservative Party
- Ricky Perrin – Green Party
The candidates in Queen’s Park ward are
- Sunny Choudhury – Conservative Party
- Milla Gauge – Labour Party
- Dominique Hall – Liberal Democrats
- Adrian Hart – Brighton and Hove Independents
- Luke Walker – Green Party
All but one of the 11 candidates has previously contested at least one election in Brighton and Hove.
But despite the controversy about where the two previous councillors lived, only two candidates have included their addresses on the public elections documents – the two Brighton and Hove Independents.
Gary Farmer, 53, a language school boss, of Old Steine, Brighton, is standing for the Brighton and Hove Independents in Kemptown.
Adrian Hart, 63, a writer and video editor, of Carlton Hill, Brighton, is standing for the Brighton and Hove Independents in Queen’s Park.
Both stood in the local elections last May when the group won its second seat, with Mark Earthey joining Bridget Fishleigh as a councillor, both representing Rottingdean and West Saltdean.
But the Liberal Democrat candidate for Kemptown, Robert Brown, a 53-year-old children’s health information service team manager, lives in the heart of his ward.
And the Greens said that their candidate in Queen’s Park – 46-year-old teacher Luke Walker – was a longstanding resident of his ward.
The Conservative candidate in Queen’s Park, Sunny Choudhury, has twice stood for the council for Labour and was a long-time resident in the ward.
The 62-year-old self-employed businessman, who holds various positions in local community groups, was overlooked by Labour at the last local elections when the regional party took charge of the selection process.
The local party picked both by-election candidates and will be hoping to hold on to seats that were won comfortably last May.
They will take hope from their convincing victory in South Portslade in January when Josh Guilmant held the seat after the resignation of veteran councillor Les Hamilton.
Labour has chosen Theresa Mackey, 66, an education adviser and former deputy head, in Kemptown. She stood in Preston Park ward last May, having lived in that ward for more than 30 years.
In Queen’s Park, Labour has selected Camilla Gauge, 46, a senior NHS manager, magistrate, school governor and trustee of the Grace Eyre Foundation.
Milla Gauge worked at the Department of Health and Social Care during the coronavirus pandemic on covid certificate policy as officials tried to limit the spread of the disease.
Look out for our full candidate profiles between now and polling day including answers to questions submitted by readers.
Anyone wishing to vote must be registered by midnight on Tuesday 16 April. To register, visit gov.uk/registertovote.
$unny Ch0udhury Conservative? Conservative? Once more Conservative? On it for himself! Not got enough for Labour off to the Tories them!
Thank you, let me put my position clear, I Resigned not because I was overlooked as some people suggested by Labour, no, because of my principles, I join the Politics to serve my community. I didn’t find that opportunity with Labour.
Theresa Mackay being local to the ward – clearly something she cares about after standing unsuccesfully for Preston Park last may. Really high quality of candidate labour select again…. https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/6795203.deputy-head-accused-of-being-drunk/
Glad to see the Conservatives making an effort.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure they are just bracing for a wipeout.
Sunny Choudhury was a Labour Party member for years. Clearly Labour isn’t right wing enough for him even under Starmer. Will be be standing for Reform next? Nothing says sleaze louder than a local politician who just wants to be a councillor and it doesn’t matter under what banner.
Forgive me, I Resigned from Labour, my principle doesn’t allow me to be part of it also the way I was treated, I put my name forward because my community wanted me to represent their voice, I do more case work than some of Councillor, Sunny don’t need name and fame, Sunny is know and Respected by authorities, Thank you.
Are you sure about that? I’m sure we can ask an FOI to verify that claim.
Tbf, I don’t think standing as a Tory candidate indicates that much ambition to actually be a councillor………
Good point Andrew. It’s a death sentence these days with them on course to be wiped out at the Generally Election for doing such a record breaking bad job.
Regardless of your political tendancies, this is your chance to vote. Do your research, and make an informed choice. By-elections tend to have really low turnouts.
Great that the two Brighton & Hove Independent candidates are proven residents of the wards they seek to represent and neither have jumped ship from party to party nor to wards to which they have no connection. Decent local candidates looking to make a difference, not political opportunists. Good luck Gary & Adrian.
Seconded Alan. I make no secret of my desire to de-link local services and central government parties who pursue national campaigns enacted at local levels to improve their chances of election. I also feel that councillors are there to provide a service, not another layer of wannabe politicians who either regard this as a stepping stone to parliament or a refuge for those who fail to get elected at a national level. We have an opportunity to elect two people who live here and have no stated political axe to grind, they just wish to perform a civic duty in helping to run the corporation of Brighton and Hove.
About time since there are only three weeks until the by-elections. Interesting flip flop by Choudhury from Labour to Tory, but it just goes to show that genuinely nice candidates can no longer tolerate the increasingly toxic Labour brand and the tide is turning.
Sunny Choudhury left Labour when it wouldn’t just gift him a safe seat.
Whereas Labour happily offered the two Leicester Ladies safe seats on a silver platter. Strange that, if Sunny missed out. What was wrong with him?
Easy – the Tories are now center left (more left than Blair) and local momentum, sorry, Labour party is still corbynist.
No that’s not the reason I Resigned, principally i finds difficult to be part of it, also Treatment,
Some would argue that just evidence of a lack of determination under pressure. And that you didn’t whistleblow if you honestly felt that way.
It doesn’t add up, Sunny.
Kemptown hustings on the 17th, 6.45-18.25 Dorset Gardens Methodist Church , Dorset Gardens BN2 1SA
Good luck Adrian. You will be a great councillor.
The candidate on the left of the photo has rather a big mouth, will do well. Only joking!
I’m sorry to inform you Anne, but that’s a dog.
Didn’t Jamie JUST run for election in Portslade?
You need to get a move on with the fuller candidate profiles, Frank. Postal voters need to post their ballot papers before polling day, to make sure they arrive in time, so have considerably less than the 2 weeks now left in which to make a decision.
Just as an aside, and I’m not a QP resident, so have no say in the QP matter (thankfully), are the posts from Sunny really from Sunny and, if so, why is his written English so very appalling and who exactly is he? Hopefully QP voters will ask the questions, assimilate any answers and vote accordingly.. The Conservatives deserve everything they get locally – most probably nothing – because of their barrel-scraping in recent local elections, and I’m saying that as a staunch Conservative voter for many years, many of which were elsewhere, when the party actually stood for something , but not at all recently in B&H. At last year’s locals, in KT they put up the chair of the local party, but I didn’t get so much as a leaflet from them because they clearly have extreme difficulty in knowing where ward boundaries are, as they have proved time and again over the years in both local and parliamentary elections. I think they gave up a long time ago, even before being a Tory went out of the window as a flavour of the month, and you have to look at a long-standing and total lack of local leadership for that. Their local websites are awful, out-of-date and neglected and they seem to have no real drive. The chair previously mentioned seems to have stood at the last minute because there was nobody else. If I may use the expression (absolutely no disrespect intended towards her), she does seem like a local ‘game old bird’ who has experience of the problems in KT and I feel sorry for her to that extent. She predictably took a caning in the polls last year, as did the other candidate they put up, who was unknown to virtually everyone, but a few Conservative diehards voted for him, presumably on the basis that he was a Conservative, even though they didn’t know who he was.
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