Britain's 2015 General Election campaign is underway, and in the constituency of Chelsea and Fulham, candidates from all five main parties are hoping to become our next local MP.

The candidates are:

Greg Hands - Conservative Party

Greg was born in 1965 in New York, the son of British parents, lived in the USA until he was seven years old, when his family moved to England.

After studying modern history at Cambridge University, Greg had an eight year career in banking in the City of London.

In 1990 he moved to Fulham, where he has still lives with his wife Irina, daughter Helena and son Martin,

In 1998, Greg was elected to Hammersmith & Fulham Council and a year later, Leader of the Conservative group on the Council. In October 2002, he was selected as the Party's Parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith & Fulham, winning the seat from Labour in 2005.

In November 2006, he was selected to fight the new Chelsea & Fulham constituency and won the seat in the May 2010 General Election. You can read more about Greg and his campaign at his own website and the site of the Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Conservatives.

Alexandra Sanderson - Labour Party

Alexandra, who works as Operations and Finance Manager at The Money Charity, which helps people to manage their money, has spent the last two years campaigning to keep Charing Cross and other West London A&Es open, and says she is delighted to be able to take this campaign forward by standing for Parliament in Chelsea and Fulham.

She adds that she is proud to be part of the team that beat "Cameron's favourite council  in Hammersmith and Fulham this May, defying expectations, and the work that the new council is doing, like saving Sulivan School.

Outside work and politics Alexandra is a governor at a local primary school and has volunteered with a number of charitable causes that are close to her heart, from caring for the severely disabled and establishing a mentoring programme for local school children while at university, to working with the Church Conservation Trust to protect old but much loved buildings.

Find out more about Alexandra on her website.

Simon Bailey - Liberal Democrat Party

Simon was born in Cheltenham in 1984 and was educated at Easingwold High School in North Yorkshire before securing a place at Durham University to study Physics.  

After graduating in 2006 Simon moved to London, from where he has built a successful career as a management consultant, supporting UK public services implement change.  He understands extremely well, the challenges facing the public sector, as well as its strengths.

Simon is an avid environmentalist and regular user of public transport.  He purchased his own home through a shared ownership scheme in Hammersmith where he has lived since 2009.  He understands the impacts such schemes can have on social cohesion and wellbeing, and in addressing the capital’s housing crisis. 

You can find out more about Simon's campaign on Twitter or at the website of Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats

Guy Rubin - Green Party

Guy works as a health researcher, protecting health patients through regulation. A member of the Green Party since 2010, he stood as a candidate at the May 2014 London local elections.

He has strong local links with the constituency, having lived in Fulham for eight years and in Hammersmith & Fulham borough for 20 and worked in Kensington and Chelsea. He served as an elected local Labour councillor on Hammersmith & Fulham Council for eight years, between 1986 and 1994.

 

Guy says that as a Councillor, he has a proven track record of standing up for local people and achieving real change to meet local needs. These include tackling the borough's acute housing need through providing genuinely affordable housing, saving Fulham Court housing estate from being privatised and providing more social housing, preventing local parks from being sold off to developers and establishing a trust to ensure public access to Fulham Palace.

Guy says his priorities are a fairer London, housing for all and a cleaner, greener Fulham and Chelsea that voting Green means voting for for a vision that will change Fulham and Chelsea for the better.

Find out more about Guy's campaign at West Central London Green Party's website and on his Facebook page

Adrian Noble - UK Independence Party

A life-time resident of the London Borough of Sutton, the majority of Adrian's working life has been spent in the private sector in finance. He currently holds a qualification from the Institute of Credit Management and works as a finance assistant for the Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability. 

Adrian's political experience began in 2000 when he joined the Conservatives and held various positions in the local association including Deputy Chairman for political and campaigning, and association chairman. He says he has always believed in the concept of the National Health Service, yet we see so many NHS Trusts, failing to maintain standards of care and hygiene. Now is the time to put this right. 

Adrian says it is time for Britain to leave the EU, so that we can control our own borders, make our own laws without being dictated to by Brussels and Strasbourg.

Find out more about Adrian at UKIP's website and at UKIP West London.

 

April 8, 2015