Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan has recalled fellow general election candidate Hamish Badenoch as “essentially a nominal nominee”.
Newly-elected Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s husband stood as a Conservative candidate in Foyle in 2015.
The Oxbridge graduate and banker secured 132 votes in the Westminster election that saw Mr Durkan retain his seat with a majority of more than 6,000.
Mr Badenoch was serving a four year term as a Conservative councillor on Merton Council in London at the time.
The couple met in 2009 and married three years later. They have two sons and a daughter, aged five to 12.
Speaking about his recollections of Mr Badenoch, the former Foyle MP and one-time Fine Gael European Parliament candidate said his candidacy appeared to be about impressing senior Tories.
“The impression at the time, fairly or unfairly, was that his phantom candidacy here was about earning favour points with Conservative Central Office,” Mr Durkan told The Irish News.
“I could not pretend that we made any lasting impressions on each other. He was essentially a nominal nominee – on-the-line for a radio hustings was probably the height of his involvement.”
