CONSERVATIVE Party rising star Meg Powell-Chandler – a former aide to Boris Johnson – is hoping to be the MP for the new Wells and Mendip Hills constituency.

The Tories have revealed the party stalwart as their candidate for the July 4 poll.

Following her selection, she said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be selected as the Conservative candidate for Wells and Mendip Hills.

“Having spent weeks knocking on doors and speaking to local people they want an active champion who knows how to get things done – and I will be just that.

“I will be a bold champion for local communities and businesses, working day in and day out to deliver for the people of Wells and Mendip Hills.”

The political operative is highly regarded in the party, having been involved with policy and as a special advisor since graduating from Oxford in 2009 and worked in the Cameron and Johnson administrations.

She was also a special advisor to Tory MPs Greg Clark and Damian Hinds, and worked at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) for a number of years.

A break from politics saw her take roles at homelessness charity Crisis, and as a lobbyist for a major communications firm whose clients included firms supporting fracking, it has been reported.

She is also understood to be a close friend of former PM Mr Johnson’s wife, Carrie Symonds, and was named by political insiders as one of Mr Johnson’s ‘three Musketeers’ of Michael Gove loyalists in Number 10.

At the 2017 general election, she stood for the Conservatives in Birmingham Northfield, but was defeated by Labour’s Richard Burden.

On July 4, she will be up against another experienced political candidate in the form of former Wells MP Tessa Munt, who is standing for the Liberal Democrats.

The last MP for the former Wells constituency, James Heappey, a former Conservative Armed Forces Minister, announced in March he was not going to seek selection for the new seat.

The other candidates so far confirmed for the new Wells and Mendip Hills seat are: Helen Hims (Reform UK), Joe Joseph (Labour), Peter Welsh (Green Party), Abi McGuire (Independent).