SHEPPEY politician Gordon Henderson has been chosen as the Conservative candidate to challenge MP Derek Wyatt at the next General Election.

Mr Henderson received the backing of members at a Sittingbourne and Sheppey Conservative Association following a selection vote in Sheerness.

He was chosen ahead of two other short-listed candidates - Nicholas Bennet, a former junior minister in John Major's government, and Diana Coad, the Tory candidate for Slough in the last General Election.

Mr Henderson, 56, lives with his wife Louise in Halfway, near Sheerness. He served as a Swale borough and Kent county councillor during the 1980s and was the ward member for Minster Cliffs from 1992 to 1996

He said: "It is a real honour to be picked as the Conservative candidate in the constituency in which I have lived for over 20 years. It has long been my dream to represent the people of Sittingbourne and Sheppey in Parliament and this is the first step towards achieving that dream."

The Tories have earmarked Sittingbourne and Sheppey as a target seat for the next General Election, having lost it to Labour candidate Derek Wyatt in 1997. Mr Wyatt increased his majority in 2001 against Tory candidate Adrian Lee.