Veteran Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale has confirmed he will stand at the General Election hoping to take the seat for the new Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency, which includes Westbrook, Birchington, Garlinge, Thanet villages wards and Westgate.
The Party says: “Roger and his wife Suzy have lived, for more than forty years, with their menagerie of assorted rescued dogs and cats in their family home in the heart of the Herne Bay and Sandwich (with West Thanet) constituency. They have three children and five grandchildren.
“Roger was first elected to represent the then North Thanet seat in 1983. He has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to two Minister of States for the Armed Forces, on the Home Affairs Select Committee, as Chairman of the All-Party Animal Welfare Group and most recently, having been the longest-serving member of the Speaker`s Panel of Chairmen, as a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.
“Roger has carried out duties as a warrant-holding Special Constable, held office with a number of local and national charities and is currently the only parliamentary holder of the RSPCA’s Richard Martin Award. Roger received a Knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second in recognition of his public service and was made a Member of Her Privy Council in January 2019.
“Roger is standing to continue to:
– Secure the future of Manston as an operational airport.
– Protect our farmland from development.
– Get the Sturry by-pass completed.
– Have our sewerage systems upgraded and fit for purpose.
– Realise the building of an East Herne Bay Secondary School.
– Resist the National Grid converter station on the marshes.
“That is why Roger is asking you once again, however you may have voted in the past, to trust him and to support him so that together we can get the job done.”
Other candidates for the Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency are Helen Whitehead (Labour), Thea Barrett (Green) and Amelia Randall (Reform UK).
The country will go to the polls on July 4. Electoral Calculus currently predicts Labour to take 61% of the vote for the Herne Bay and Sandwich seat with Conservatives predicted to take 39%.
