Tory candidate's claim he’s ‘resident’ in constituency ridiculed in AirBnb blunder

Over the years, political parties have put forward candidates for selection in constituencies in which they are not a resident (Tory chairman Richard Holden, previously elected to represent North West Durham, is now standing as a general election candidate in Basildon and Billericay, for example), but this election campaign has seen one Tory MP claim he is now a “part of their community” by posting pictures of his new home – only for it to emerge that it was seemingly an AirBnb.

Ed McGuinness, the Conservative looking to succeed Michael Gove in Surrey Heath after the former cabinet minister announced he would be standing down at this election, took to Twitter/X on Saturday to sound the “personal news claxon” and declare he was now a “resident of St Paul’s ward” in the constituency.

“Surrey Heath residents, rightly, expect their MP to be a part of their community.

“As many of you will appreciate Michael Gove stepped down with a short timeframe to select me and it’s hard to get a place so quickly.

“I’ve said in previous messages my fiancé and I were moving in, and I’m sorry I couldn’t be more explicit on timeframes as I didn’t want to jinx it, but now I am so happy to live here and honoured to stand and represent our great residents,” he wrote, attaching pictures of him holding the keys to the property and posing in the kitchen space.

The only problem is, is that one social media sleuth soon discovered it was listed on AirBnb (it’s since been taken offline), and thus, the ridicule followed suit:

Even the Community Notes providing “additional context” for the tweet were brutal in their explanation of what’s going on, with one reading: “This property is a one-month short-term let via the property rental platform AirBnB.

“The original post may mislead readers to think they now permanently live in the constituency.”

In a statement to the Mirror about the whole affair, McGuinness said: “It's a former Air BnB that I’m now renting while I look to buy. To get a place within 100 hours of being selected is a great achievement and demonstrates my commitment to Surrey Heath.

“Presumably the landlord had it listed on AirBnb and didn’t immediately remove it as soon as I moved in."

Awkward.

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