Candidates and Constituency Assessments

'Iain Duncan Smith, the new Chingford skinhead, is the progeny of Norman Tebbit out of Baroness Thatcher. He is pro-hanging, pro-caning, pro-Section with a detestation that borders on the obsessional. David Davis calls himself, with unconscious irony, the 'clean break' candidate. Clean break from what? In addition to Europhobia, Davis is an English nationalist, a die-hard anti-devolutionist who wants to break up the UK by setting up an English parliament.' Iain MacWhirter in the Herald, 20 th June 2001.

Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk

Candidates

	Labour	Sam Held
	Scottish National Party	Aileen Orr
	Conservative & Unionist	John Lamont
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Moore MP
	Scottish Socialist Party	Graeme McIver
	UK Independence Party	Peter Neilson
	Liberal Party	John Hein

Candidates

The Labour candidate is Sam Held.

The SNP candidate is Aileen Orr. Aileen is the Secretary of Berwickshire Branch and has been a member of the SNP for 34 years, since her school days at Lockerbie Academy. She studied accountancy, economics and politics, joined the Royal Bank of Scotland and then spent most of her work life in the financial sector until her marriage to Andrew, a Berwickshire farmer. They have two children. The family is entrenched in Borders rugby. Aileen has a keen interest in Burns, and was the first woman piper to play in the Globe Inn Dumfries at a Burns Supper. She is a former member of Lockerbie, Dumfries and Lochaber pipe bands. Passionate about Independence, she is the Chair of the cross party Independence Coalition. Aileen has stood at least three times in Scottish Borders Council elections previously in Duns and District North in 1999, Chirnside & District in 2003 (where she polled just under 40% but missed out to a Conservative) and in a snap by-election in Kelso North (May 2004), where she came 3rd, but increased the SNP vote to 18% (from 16%)

The Conservative candidate, John Lamont was born on 15 th April 1976. He was educated at Kilwinning Academy in Ayrshire and then studied law at Glasgow University (1994-1998). Mr Lamont graduated in 1998 with First Class Honours and now works as a solicitor. He has been an active member of the Scottish Conservative Party since 1994. John is currently the Chairman of his local Conservative Association and has served as treasurer for his local association.

The Lib Dem candidate, Michael Moore, is the current MP for Tweedale, Ettrick & Lauderdale, having been elected in 1997 upon the retirement of Sir David Steel (now Lord Steel of Aikwood). Michael Moore was born in 1965 and educated at Strathallan School in Perthshire and Jedburgh Grammar School. He has a MA(Hons) in Politics and Modern History from Edinburgh University and is a Chartered Accountant. He worked as a Research Assistant to Archy Kirkwood MP, then as a Chartered Accopuntant, and a manager of Corporate Finance Practice. He is currently deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Lib Dem spokesman on Foreign Affairs at Westminster. He is a member of Amnesty International and his interest include jazz, hill walking & supporting local rugby teams.

The SSP party candidate is Graeme McIver who was a founding member of Borders Against Education Cuts and Borders Anti-War Coalition, and stood as a council candidate for the Borders Action Group in 2002. Graeme is married with four children and lives in Galashiels. He was candidate for Roxburgh and Berwickshire in the 2003 Holyrood elections. Previously an electronics factory worker, he now works as the SSPÕs South Scotland regional organiser.

The UK Independence Party candidate is Peter Neilson was born in Glasgow. He worked as an engineer for 20 years before returning to his farming roots and horse whispering practice. He firmly believes that the European Commission is a corrupt and unelected body which drains Britain of £39 million a day. Away from politics Peter, a bachelor, with three rescue dogs and a rescue pony devotes his time to the countryside and to country sports. He is also the author of a book on horsewhispering just published in the USA. His work with animals has been featured extensively in the national and international press as well as on television. Peter is the Chairman of UKIPScotland and has represented the party in General, European and Scottish elections. He has contested Roxburgh & Berwickshire twice at Westminster elections, coming 6 th with 0.58 % in 1997 and coming 6 th with 1.57 % in 2001. At both the 1999 and 2004 European election he was 7 th on the UKIP national list. At the 2003 Scottish parliamentary election, he was first on the UKIP list for South of Scotland.

The Liberal Party candidate is John Hein who is 47 years old and lives in Edinburgh. John was born in Kenya Colony, moved to Scotland in 1962, and was educated largely in Stirlingshire. He has worked as a journalist, as a property manager, and as the Company Secretary of a small brewery. He is Editor of ScotsGay Magazine and has been involved in gay activism for over 25 years. He has been a member of the National Executive of the Liberal Party for ten years, helping to rebuild its organisation, which was shattered after the merger with the SDP which led to the formation of the LibDems. He is also Convenor of the Liberal Party in Scotland. He has contested seats for the Liberal Party at Euro, UK and Scottish Parliamentary levels. He contested Tweedale, Ettrick & Lauderdale in 1992, coming fifth with 0.6 % and at the 1997 and 2001 Westminster elections, coming sixth with 0.99 % and 1.15 % respectively.

Notional 2001 result

Logo	Party	Denver			Baxter
		Votes	%		Votes	%
	Liberal Democrat	20,317	46.79 %		19,516	45.39 %
	Conservative & Unionist	9,547	21.99 %		9,278	21.58 %
	Labour	7,348	16.92 %		7,919	18.42 %
	Scottish National Party	4,942	11.38 %		4,805	11.17 %
	Scottish Socialist Party	654	1.51 %		847	1.97 %
	Others	611	1.41 %		635	1.47 %
Notional Liberal Democrat win	Notional Liberal Democrat majority	10,770	24.80 %		10,238	23.81 %

Local Government wards in the constituency

This consists of the old Roxburgh & Berwickshire with the addition of nine wards from the old Tweedale, Ettrick & Lauderdale Constituency. Two wards that were split between the old constituencies are now in Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk.