Richard Holden makes a speech after winning in Basildon and Billericay.A government minister delivered a brutal slapdown to Richard Holden after he queried the way her department hands out jobs.
The shadow transport secretary asked in a written parliamentary question whether the Foreign Office “takes factors other than merit into consideration when it comes to appointments and promotions”.
But he was reminded by Seema Malhotra, a junior minister in the department, about the controversial way in which he became the MP for Basildon and Billericay at the last election.
Tory bosses were accused of a “stitch-up” after Holden was effectively imposed on the constituency shortly before voters went to the polls.
He had been desperately looking for a seat after his previous North West Durham constituency was abolished.
He was re-elected to the supposedly safe Tory seat with a majority of just 20 votes.
In her reply to Holden, Malhotra insisted the Foreign Office “seeks to maintain the highest standards of integrity, fairness and impartiality in such matters”.
She added: “I would be happy to compare these processes with the means by which [he] became a candidate for his current seat.”
A government source told HuffPost UK: “Richard Holden and his colleagues might like to pretend that their 14 years in government is a figment of the imagination, but we will keep on doing our best to remind them, especially when they make it as easy as this.”
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