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Kelly Tolhurst to fight Rochester for the Tories
LOCAL businesswoman Kelly Tolhurst will fight Ukip to hold on to the Rochester and Strood seat for the Conservatives in the upcoming by-election, it was announced last night.
The result follows a postal primary vote, which allows local people to select the candidate they want to fight the seat. However turnout for the vote was low, with just 5,688 ballots returned.
Tolhurst, who said she was “honoured” to represent the seat, beat her rival Anna Firth with 50.44 per cent to Firth’s 49.56 per cent. She will now battle against former Conservative MP Mark Reckless, who defected to join Ukip.