Baroness Sandip Verma has been chosen to run as Leicester's mayoral candidate for the Conservative party in May, to take on Labour's candidate Sir Peter Soulsby. Though it is believed the party initially had someone else in their mind, she was chosen after she came up as the favourite among local party members.
Verma has been a member of the House of Lords since 2006 and was a parliamentary under secretary for the Department for International Development from May 2015 to July 2016.
She was born in India and moved to the UK with her parents in the 1960s and grew up in Leicester. She has campaigned to tackle violence against women and has a tough challenge to dislodge Soulsby, who is seeking jis third term running Leicester City Council.
She has campaigned to tackle violence against women and is a director of a family owned care firm.
Chairman of the Leicester Tories Jack Hickey told the Leicester Mercury: “Sandi Verma will make an excellent candidate to take the fight to Peter Soulsby on the issues that matter to people.
“She's an experienced campaigner, particularly on social care issues, having been a Government frontbencher in the the House of Lords.”
