Conservatives choose candidate for Brighton Pavilion

Brighton Pavilion Conservative Association has chosen its candidate to fight the 2015 General Election.

Clarence Mitchell was selected from a final shortlist of three applicants, the other two being solicitor and member of Westminster CIty Council John-Paul Floru and Michelle Lowe a marketing communications specialist.

Clarence joined Burson-Marsteller UK as a Managing Director in September 2011, where he specialises in media relations, international reputation management and stakeholder engagement.

He was appointed Practice Chair, UK Public Affairs in May 2012, advising clients over engagement with both the British Government and the British Conservative Party

Prior to his move into public relations, he was Director of the UK Government’s Media Monitoring Unit, based within the Cabinet Office, leading a team of Information Officers advising No 10 Downing Street and all of the major UK Departments of State on how best to respond to the 24/7 news agenda.

In May 2007, he was seconded to the UK Foreign Office to assist the McCann family with media handling following the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine in Portugal.

Prior to joining the Civil Service, he had been an on-air BBC News Correspondent, Royal Correspondent, Political Correspondent and Presenter, during a 20 year career with the Corporation.

He began his career in journalism as a newspaper reporter and completed his journalist training with Westminster Press in Hastings before writing for both local and national UK titles in the early 1980s.

Whilst completing his journalistic apprenticeship on the Hendon and Finchley Times in North-West London, he frequently covered the activities of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as one of his “local” MPs. He also accompanied the then Prime Minister John Major “on the road” for the BBC during the 1997 UK General Election campaign.

Clarence is a Trustee of Swanswell, a national charity working to eradicate problem alcohol and drugs use, and a director of the Enterprise Forum, which works to facilitate discussions on policy between the business community and the Conservative Party.

Councillor Ann Norman, who chaired the selection meeting, said:

“We are very pleased to have Clarence as the Conservative candidate as he is ideally placed and qualified to take the Brighton Pavilion Parliamentary seat back into Conservative hands as that is where it truly belongs”.

The next general election will be in May, 2015. Caroline Lucas has been selected by the Green Party to defend her seat and Purna Sen has been chosen as Labour’s Candidate.

Brighton Pavilion was held by Labour from 1997 till the Green Party made it their first seat in Parliament in 2010.