Political Career
Hunt worked for the Labour Party at Millbank Tower in the 1997 general election; he also worked at the Party's headquarters during the following 2001 general election; during the 2005 general election he supported Oona King's campaign in Bethnal Green.
In the summer of 2007 he failed to be selected for the safe Labour seat of Liverpool West Derby, where Stephen Twigg was selected instead, and in 2009 for the safe seat of Leyton and Wanstead.
Hunt was selected to stand for Stoke-on-Trent Central on 1 April 2010. Because the candidacy was filled just before the election, the shortlist was drawn up by Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee selection panel, with none on the shortlist local to Stoke-on-Trent. This led to the secretary of the Constituency Labour Party, Gary Elsby, standing as an independent candidate against Hunt in protest. Despite the controversy of being "parachuted in" to the district Hunt was elected with 38.8% of the vote. The closest fought contest in the constituency in decades, he still boasted a majority of 5,566 over his nearest rival.
Read more about this topic: Tristram Hunt
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