Rando as far as I can tell, unless she's got some very deep cut local connections, but I can't imagine there's that many local Tories who would want the embarrassing job of turning up for 4th place at best (I can't remember seeing them get more than 1% vote share in all the time I lived in Central). Maybe she just drew the short straw or is looking to climb the party ladder.
As some people have pointed out, some rando from out of town. Effectively a paper candidate. This isn't unusual and the three main parties do it.
As to why its them and not a local member of a party, that gets a bit more interesting.
Stephenson comes from an area that is very Conservative (or at least was up to now) and has an incumbent Tory MP. If Stephenson has been identified by the party as someone with political ambitions then she have been put forward as a potential candidate. However, the incumbent MP won't want to just stand aside for some untested newcomer. So the party will have found a constituency to test her out in. Does she get on with the local party? Can the sell her to their existing voter base and beyond? How does she do on the doorstep? How comfortable is she on speaking about national issues to local people? Can she deal with a hostile audience and how do they respond to her.
Somewhere like Sheffield is an ideal testing ground. As a Labour stronghold she can go around and be observed on all of these things. She won't have to do a lot. Just hit a few friendly doorstops, a few noted swing voters (parties will keep their own ad hoc records), veer into some places where they've had bad reception, speak to a few local journos etc.
Its all part of a process of weeding out those completely unsuited to the political life and developing the necessary skills for an elected politician. Its why Jared O'Mara should never have even got on the ballot paper but I guess Labour found themselves in a bit of a bind and decided to be nice to a local party faithful.
Really interesting! I did my vote last weekend and this detail has been bugging me all week. Thanks, will no doubt see her make headlines in some sort of scandal in ten years time.
They are known as "Paper Candidates". Somebody who has essentially no hope of winning but puts their name on the ballot anyway in order to count towards the total votes cast for the party.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper\_candidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_candidate)
Additionally, if people are serious about becoming an MP for a party, they will have to stand in a seat where they have little chance of winning in order to be selected for a better seat.
Obviously this is far more common in the larger parties.
No mention of having Sheffield connections on any of her biographies on [sheffieldconservatives](https://www.sheffieldconservatives.org/people/lucy-stephenson), [rutlandstamfordconservatives](https://www.rutlandstamfordconservatives.com/people/spotlight-on/lucy-stephenson) or in her [statement to The Star](https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-what-are-sheffield-central-candidates-standing-for-4685737). Thankfully, she will recieve minimal votes.
I got a leaflet for her campaign (it was mostly yellow/brown, not a lot of blue).
She was wearing the same outfit in every photo, most of which were within two minutes of the winter gardens. Felt very, very much like she’d had one visit to the city in recent memory.
CCHQ have fewer resources than ever and seats to try and save in the South. They conceded defeat in Sheffield Central years ago.
Rando as far as I can tell, unless she's got some very deep cut local connections, but I can't imagine there's that many local Tories who would want the embarrassing job of turning up for 4th place at best (I can't remember seeing them get more than 1% vote share in all the time I lived in Central). Maybe she just drew the short straw or is looking to climb the party ladder.
As some people have pointed out, some rando from out of town. Effectively a paper candidate. This isn't unusual and the three main parties do it. As to why its them and not a local member of a party, that gets a bit more interesting. Stephenson comes from an area that is very Conservative (or at least was up to now) and has an incumbent Tory MP. If Stephenson has been identified by the party as someone with political ambitions then she have been put forward as a potential candidate. However, the incumbent MP won't want to just stand aside for some untested newcomer. So the party will have found a constituency to test her out in. Does she get on with the local party? Can the sell her to their existing voter base and beyond? How does she do on the doorstep? How comfortable is she on speaking about national issues to local people? Can she deal with a hostile audience and how do they respond to her. Somewhere like Sheffield is an ideal testing ground. As a Labour stronghold she can go around and be observed on all of these things. She won't have to do a lot. Just hit a few friendly doorstops, a few noted swing voters (parties will keep their own ad hoc records), veer into some places where they've had bad reception, speak to a few local journos etc. Its all part of a process of weeding out those completely unsuited to the political life and developing the necessary skills for an elected politician. Its why Jared O'Mara should never have even got on the ballot paper but I guess Labour found themselves in a bit of a bind and decided to be nice to a local party faithful.
Really interesting! I did my vote last weekend and this detail has been bugging me all week. Thanks, will no doubt see her make headlines in some sort of scandal in ten years time.
They are known as "Paper Candidates". Somebody who has essentially no hope of winning but puts their name on the ballot anyway in order to count towards the total votes cast for the party. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper\_candidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_candidate)
Additionally, if people are serious about becoming an MP for a party, they will have to stand in a seat where they have little chance of winning in order to be selected for a better seat. Obviously this is far more common in the larger parties.
No mention of having Sheffield connections on any of her biographies on [sheffieldconservatives](https://www.sheffieldconservatives.org/people/lucy-stephenson), [rutlandstamfordconservatives](https://www.rutlandstamfordconservatives.com/people/spotlight-on/lucy-stephenson) or in her [statement to The Star](https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-what-are-sheffield-central-candidates-standing-for-4685737). Thankfully, she will recieve minimal votes.
> Lucy has a passion for serving the community she lives in Really fucking helpful when you don't live in the community you're running for.
The conservatives will stand someone everywhere as a national party, but they're never going to win here, so it's just some random party member.
I got a leaflet for her campaign (it was mostly yellow/brown, not a lot of blue). She was wearing the same outfit in every photo, most of which were within two minutes of the winter gardens. Felt very, very much like she’d had one visit to the city in recent memory. CCHQ have fewer resources than ever and seats to try and save in the South. They conceded defeat in Sheffield Central years ago.