Tory Candidate Begins Campaign With Bizarre Cardboard Cut-Out And 'Celebrity Endorsement'

A Conservative candidate celebrated being selected to represent the party at the general election with quite the prop.

On Monday evening, Sir Desmond Swayne – who was an MP until parliament dissolved last week – announced he was running for New Forest West by posing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of none other than Margaret Thatcher.

The Iron Lady served as the Conservative prime minister of the UK from 1979 until 1990, and died more than a decade ago, but, for Swayne at least, she clearly still looms large over the party.

Swayne wrote: “Successfully nominated... and with celebrity endorsement.”

Half an hour later, Swayne added another photo of himself with Thatcher – except this time, it was an old image with the real version of the former PM.

The caption read: “And one we prepared somewhat earlier.”

Swayne also has a photo of himself with another cut-out of Thatcher as the banner image on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

Swayne never served in her government, having been elected to New Forest West seven years after she resigned in 1990.

He did hold several different roles as a minister under David Cameron, but was kicked out of government when Theresa May got into No.10.

Swayne – a keen Brexiter and critic of the Covid lockdowns – was elected with a comfortable 24,403 majority at the 2019 general election and so his seat is unlikely to be at risk.

But other Conservatives may not be so lucky, according to a recent polls from YouGov and the More In Common think tank.

Both suggested Labour is on track for a landslide victory, while cabinet ministers including Grant Shapps and justice secretary Michelle Donelan could be booted out when the public hit the ballot box next month.

YouGov predicted that Tories would take home a meagre 140 seats – less than half the 365 they secured in 2019.