THE CANDIDATES: AYR, CARRICK, & CUMNOCK

What do we know about the candidates in the forthcoming General Election? Not much, so here's what we could find out at short notice. 

First up, the leading candidate in this constituency, according to polls, is Labour's Elaine Stewart:

She looks nice enough, and she is or was a councillor on South Ayrshire council. Professionally she is deeply embedded in the tax-and-grant-funded economy, rather than the part of the economy that ultimately funds this sector. 

She lives in Kilmarnock, and went to Doon Academy from 1981-84 which means she must be about 46 years old. There are some blanks in her CV but she then got into charity work and charity jobs and started to fill the gaps in her education through the Open University (2002). In 2002 she also got on the council and served as vice chair of education for 4 years. Later (2016) she did a degree at University of Stirling on something child-related. Don't know if she has her own kids. 

Ms Stewart's main opponent is the sitting SNP MP Allan Dorrans, someone we have written about already at Errshurr.

He is a large-boned, hook-nosed, lantern-jawed individual of Irish background, although born locally. His physique was no doubt useful in his former career as a policeman down in London (1972 to 1987) and as a "care and resettlement officer" for offenders (2003 to 2009). He also worked briefly in America.

He broke into local politics as a councillor in 2012, and was selected as Parliamentary Candidate over former SNP MP (2015-2017) Corri Wilson, who had become an electoral liability thanks to claiming over a half a million pounds in expenses over just two years, in the process hiring her relatives as her "assistants" (her son Kieran and daughter Shannon).

Dorrans is now almost 70 and is married to Doreen with one son and couple of grandkids. He also survived a bout of Covid. 

Far behind Stewart and Dorrans, thanks to the general unpopularity of the Sunak government, is the Conservative candidate Martin Dowey, aged around 55, who is also the leader of Tory-run South Ayrshire council. 

Like Dorrans, Dowey is a former copper and certainly wouldn't look out of place in an episode of "Taggart", but his main occupation these days is to prevent the "murder-r-r" of South Ayrshire's finances through overspending. 

He is married to Sharon, a Morrison's shop girl who worked her way up to management, before switching to politics and becoming a Conservative MSP on the South Scotland regional list in 2021. At last, someone from the real economy!

The couple have three kids. 


Predictions based on latest polls: