Former Gordon SNP MP Richard Thomson is seeking nomination as the party’s pick in Angus North and Mearns next year, the P&J can reveal.
He was toppled in last year’s Westminster election in a knife-edge race against Tory MP Harriet Cross who won the newly-redrawn seat of Gordon and Buchan with a majority of 878.
Now, the ex-MP is seeking to make his political comeback to replace current MSP Mairi Gougeon who will quit Holyrood next year.
A total of five potential candidates are in the running for the seat, including Aberdeen City Council co-leader Christian Allard who we revealed earlier this year is hoping to make a Holyrood return.
Speaking exclusively to the P&J as nominations closed, Mr Thomson promised to offer a “strong voice that can deliver real results” on the Holyrood stage.
‘I’ve been humbled and taken aback’
He said: “I’ve been humbled and taken aback by the number of the folk – in and out of politics – who since the last election have encouraged me to consider standing for Holyrood.
“Since Mairi Gougeon’s decision to step down at the next election, I’ve been very pleased to receive encouragement from SNP members across the Angus North and Mearns area to get involved in the selection process to choose their next local candidate.
“Mairi leaves a big gap to fill, both as a local MSP and as a cabinet secretary.
“If selected and then later elected, I’d like to think that I have what it takes to make sure that this area continues to have hard-working, strong and effective voices at the heart of the decision-making process.”
A former leader of Aberdeenshire Council between 2015 and 2017, he later represented the Gordon constituency at Westminster between 2019 until last year when he lost his seat to the Tories.
Mr Thomson is understood to be a close ally of SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn who is also targeting a Holyrood seat next year.
The constituency takes in from Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire to Forfar in Angus.
Aberdeen City councillor Michael Hutchison and Aberdeenshire councillor Dawn Black are also understood to be potential candidates in the seat, along with Lyn Jardine, who is currently a councillor in East Lothian.
Miranda Radley, Aberdeen City Council’s housing convener, was also nominated but is understood to have pulled out of this race in favour of another.
SNP insiders said interest in the seat – one of the SNP’s strongholds – had been high.
Conversation