Hove Conservatives have selected local activist Kristy Adams as their candidate in the general election on Thursday 8 June.
She will try to win the seat back from Labour MP Peter Kyle who took it against the national swing two years ago with a majority of 1,236.
Kristy Adams was picked by local members from a shortlist of three this evening.
Local party chairman Councillor Lee Wares said: “we are delighted that Kristy has been selected and she will be an outstanding MP for Hove and Portslade.”
Kristy Adams said: “I am absolutely delighted to be chosen to represent the Conservative Party in Hove and Portslade.
“Four generations of my family have lived in Hove. I grew up in Sussex, and went to a state secondary school and then Brighton College sixth form.
“I started my career as a store manager in a busy shop in East Street, Brighton, and now run my own business, based in Hove. Both my children attend local state schools.”
Kristy runs a small business and said that stands firmly on the side of those for whom life is a struggle.
She volunteers at the Brighton night shelter, works on a campaign to reuse school uniforms and worked with Theresa May fighting for the rights of people who have suffered modern slavery.
The party said that she offers Hove and Portslade the opportunity to vote for an MP who would promote prosperity and opportunity while looking out for the most vulnerable.
She said: “I applied to be a candidate when the Conservatives reached out to people from a wider range of backgrounds such as women, community champions and people with a passion for social justice.
“I knew I wasn’t a ‘career politician’ and I think it’s important that our MPs have experienced what it’s like to live and work in the community they represent.”
She added that she was looking forward to supporting Theresa May in securing a strong and stable government delivering jobs and security for Hove and Portslade.
The party website says: “Kristy works in her family firm and as a consultant. She is a director of a company that designs loft conversions and works with builders across the south east.
“As a consultant, Kristy has delivered arts projects on behalf of the Arts Council, including forest school projects to community groups, businesses, Sure Start centres and schools, and fulfilling a successful contract in 2016-17 with a Brighton property company as a business development manager.
“She is a former governor of two schools and a director of a Learning Board Trust overseeing eight schools.
“Kristy is a former area chairman of the Bedfordshire and Cambridge Conservative Party, overseeing 12 associations, a former councillor in Bedford (ended 2015), chairman of the Religious Education Committee, a board member of Audit and Standards and Children’s Services, and a founder and former chairman of an anti-modern slavery group, BAMS.
“In Brighton and Hove she is a trustee of Impact Initiatives (a community charity) and a board member of Sussex Modern Slavery Awareness Raising Group.
“Born and bred in Sussex, Kristy is the daughter of an A&E nursing sister and a business consultant. Her parents taught her the values of working hard.
“She believes in efficiency, providing value for money in public services and providing excellent patient/customer care.
“She attended Warden Park Comprehensive in Cuckfield and Brighton College. She is passionate about art, business, education and social justice.
“She is particularly proud of standing at the Chelsea Flower Show, having won a gold medal for a Modern Slavery Garden with the then Home Secretary Theresa May and reaching over four million people of twitter and three million TV viewers with the message of Modern Slavery to raise public awareness of the crime.
“Kristy lists as her outstanding political achievements: providing strategic leadership for a network of schools, championing looked-after children in her ward and the result being better emotional and educational outcomes for these children, helping groups resolve conflict that resulted in more effective community leadership and mentoring woman and individuals from minority groups.
“Kristy’s vision is to serve our community with courage, compassion and authenticity and to inspire future political leaders, particularly those from groups currently under-represented in local and national government.”
This is literally just a press release, with a few words added .
If you read most articles these days you’ll find that’s all try really are.
Not sold at all….Peter has done an excellent job so far. Ive appreciated his refreshingly honest and extremely hard working ethic to his position so far, which has gained him much respect in the area. Good luck Peter!
Are you serious ? You’ll vote for a person who puts Brussels BEFORE Britain ? Mr Kyle is a disgrace to this country and to this constituency. We made the mistake of voting for him in 2015 and now we’ll be voting Tory, for the first time.
That is an unfair representation of mr kyle’s position on brexit. I for one will be voting for a man of principle who attends many public events, talks to people, gets their views and stands up in parliament for those he represents over a completely absent conservative MP – who I had to look up the name of. It is almost like the conservatives don’t want to win the election – perhaps they have realised their policies aren’t up to the job in hand (including brexit)
Well sorry Peter and Phelim – I know who is getting my vote.
With Peter Kyle, whilst he has ben an excellent MP, a vote for him would be supporting Jeremy Corbin’s far left anti capitalist policies.
With Phelim, the same far left policies, but I remember that he was the main author and advocate for the city’s travellers policy and the need to treat them ever so gently. And we all know how well they did running the council for 4 years…
Poor old “Gerald” is wrong again. The Travellers policy was brought in – as a legal necessity – under the Tories. The Green administration added a Report which had unanimous, cross-Party support. Tory adminstrations across Sussex have provided Traveller places.
Have a look at the Traveller’s Strategy document on the council web site and see who had the major involvement in setting it up and making sure that their special needs were addressed. Read the areas where travellers were defended for the amount of rubbish they leave behind and this compared to the rubbish dumped illegally from everyone else.
I think you’ve find out that even though the Tories were in power, this was a major Green party initiative under your friend Phelim Mac Cafferty. And I think you’ll find that other councils have not been quite so accommodating to the travellers and not so frightened of being called racist for dealing with the issue properly.
I know you value Phelim – especially as he managed to get additional funding to support keeping library services in your beloved Carnegie, but please stop being so sycophantically supportive of Phelim and trying to rewrite history to make it appear that the Greens have been of any real value to the city and the tax paying residents.
That’s a very long way of saying “yes, Chris Hawtree is right and I don’t really know what I’m talking about”.
Kirsty the token Tory state schooler is pretty much a shoe in given that Labour’s highest priority will be throw everything at getting Lucas out in Pavillion.
Kirsty needs to become an MP because her own party in government are closing down most of her clients. The irony!
And in comparison, what can the Green Party say about Phelim credentials?
But it will be most amusing if Labour take out Caroline and Kristy takes out Peter – Caroline won’t have a job anymore ?
Yes, because the Conservatives so deserve to be reflected. How are they doing? Record NHS waits for A&E, crisis in the mildest of winters, highest ever levels of debt, slowest economic recovery, stagnating wages, falling living standards, a million on zero hours contracts and a country divided by brexit (and still no plan).
If you want failure, then the Conservatives have an unrivalled track record.
Reflected = re-elected.
So basically Phelim has zero credentials and you have to attack the Tories instead of reading those clearly listed for Kristy (you must learn to spell!).
Typical Green Party refusal to respond to direct questions- totally wretched party – good to see you back and returning to mud slinging now that it is election time and your party is going nowhere. We really missed you ?
Surely the best way to solve this is to have a Tory run City and then everyone will get a taste of The Simon Kirby way of doing nothing wothwhile.It cannot get any worse than it is now.I travel a lot and The City has really been neglected compared to lots of others and yet it is very rich.
What’s her line on Brexit? Is she a swivel-eyed Empire 2.0 enthusiast, or just an ex-remainer robot-going-over-a-cliff like Mrs May?
It does amuse me when Tories expect thanks for their charitabulous works, helping the very people that their policies have helped to impoverish in the first place.
Yeah. Being a director of a charity is garbage. Charities want more donors, not more directors.
Hold on. Wasn’t Peter Kyle a ‘charity director’ too?
All these politicians are rotten. Make it an unpaid job and see how many of them still want to do it.
Never heard of her Lol
“Kristy’s vision is to serve our community with… compassion”
Compassion – not a word I associate with the current Conservative administration or the one before that.
Peter Kyle has been an excellent constituency MP and embodies compassion. I hope he retains his seat.
There’s not a great deal of difference between these two candidates. The EU seems to not be either here nor there to Kristy though.
Kristy and Peter are both basically pro business. Both prioritise feminine and feminist issues and the third world. Both of them go with the pretty standard line in relation to Syria (That’s how I take it with her RT’ing an ABC news about the “Sarin” gas attack).
Seems the Conservatives think this is a Labour hold! To put out a candidate exactly the same as the current Labour one!
Well we have a candidate for hove and portslade, I for one will not be voting for any candidate who does not show there face. These elections are somewhat down on figures because we don’t know who they are, so don’t take us for granted because no show no vote, oh yes I live in olive road .
Ifany of the candidates organised a public local forum I would definitly attend.
She is a devout Christian with documented abilities to channel the will of God to heal the disabled.
Fantastic news about Kirsty, at least a visible conservative candidate for Hove+Portslade!!!
why have i not seen any conservative party canvasing in hove??? lots of labour though
Well, since she supports Theresa May, she has zero chance of getting my vote. Though as a Conservative party candidate, I wouldn’t vote for her anyway. Nor Peter Kyle for that matter. Both parties put out manifestos for the last election that they had no intention of fulfilling; of the two, the Conservatives were probably the more dishonest in that the majority of their MPs stood on a manifesto they intended to frustrate, indicating to me that whatever qualities the Conservatives use to select candidates, basic honesty and integrity aren’t on the list.