Wellingborough Tory candidate selection for Peter Bone's old seat to take place this Sunday

A new prospective Conservative candidate for Wellingborough’s vacant parliamentary seat will be chosen on Sunday.

A by-election is set to take place soon after Peter Bone was sent packing following a a successful recall petition in the constituency. Mr Bone had held the seat since 2005.

An independent panel ruled he had bulled his staff and engaged in sexual misconduct. He lost the Tory whip and was suspended from Parliament for six weeks before his fate was sealed by the recall petition, which garnered 10,505 signatures – way more than the 7,940 needed.

The date for the by-election has not yet been announced but it is believed a writ will go before Parliament shortly after it reconvenes on January 8.

Candidates were given just a few days’ notice of the closure of nominations.

The first person to publicly declare was outspoken Earls Barton councillor Scott Brown. The Tory is seen by local members as the change candidate and has won significant cross-party support after proving himself a thorn in the side of North Northamptonshire Council’s Conservative administration, challenging several major decisions including the move to charge for garden waste.

There was no word last night from the camp of Cllr Helen Harrison, the partner of discredited Peter Bone, who had been tipped to be in the running. She has continued to stand by her partner since he was ditched from the Conservative party and has been pictured out campaigning with him several times.

Leader of North Northants Council Cllr Jason Smithers, whose name had been bandied around before Christmas, has ruled himself out of the race.

He said: “I can confirm I have never been interested in becoming an MP, and I have no ambition to become an MP. I greatly respect people who wish to pursue this role or are currently serving MPs as it a big commitment. I have an enormous job as the leader of NNC, and my attention is wholly on delivering for all the residents of North Northamptonshire. I wish all the prospective Conservative candidates the very best of luck.”

It’s also thought several senior councillors at NNC have decided not to run.

Peter Bone will not be able to stand as a Conservative candidate because he has not had the whip returned to him after his unmasking as a bully. He could still stand as an independent although a promised statement in the new year is yet to materialise.

The Labour candidate is Gen Kitchen who today welcomes shadow front-benchers Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Ashworth to Wellingborough to unveil a major party campaign. Ms Kitchen has been ever-present in the town since her candidacy was announced and her campaign has attracted significant national coverage.

Right wingers Reform announced their candidate as Ben Habib earlier this week. The party will be hoping to pick up significant support as UKIP won second place in the seat back in 2015.

Liberal Democrat Ana Savage-Gunn and the Green candidate William Morris have also got their campaigns off the ground.