Learn more about the Conservative candidate for Hitchin and Harpenden after the party officially confirmed on Friday their man to fight Peter Lilley’s former seat.
Bim Afolami, originally from Crowthorne in Berks was the party’s choice to defend the 20,000 majority Mr Lilley achieved at the last election.
He attended Bishopsgate prep school, Eton and Oxford, studying modern history and was vice president of the Oxford Union Society.
He was then a political adviser at the House of Commons and worked in corporate law before moving onto finance as a senior executive at HSBC.
The 31-year-old father of two is also a school governor and has mentored teenagers.
He lives in Northampton and has previously contested the Lewisham Deptford seat in 2015, where he achieved 15 per cent of the vote, gaining 7,056 votes in a Labour stronghold. He is described as an ‘astute public speaker’.
In 2011 he said it was important to ‘push further and faster on education reforms. The Big Society is a really important concept – all we need to do is develop it over the next five to ten years.’
He has also been quoted as saying: “Education is the main vehicle people have for personal advancement. Get rid of grammar schools and you remove that opportunity. The closure of grammar schools is one thing that Labour should look back on as a big mistake.”
His father is an NHS consultant.
He is also a big sports fan and sportsman, supporting Northampton Saints and Arsenal FC. Follow him on Twitter @BimAfolami.
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