Oliver Cooper, Steve Adams and Aarti Joshi are standing in Belsize

THE leader of Camden’s Conservatives has officially switched wards and is now in the thick of a battle royale with the Liberal Democrats.

The Tories want to avenge election losses in Belsize at the 2018, which saw the Liberal Democrats seize two seats. Group leader Oliver Cooper is currently a councillor in Hampstead.

He was reselected in that ward on Saturday morning but declined the invitation to stand there again. Instead, Deborah Dor and Councillor Stephen Stark will be the candidates.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, Cllr Cooper was confirmed as a new candidate in Belsize – where he will be standing alongside Councillor Steve Adams and Aarti Joshi.

SEE ALSO CONSERVATIVE LEADER SET TO SWITCH WARD FOR BELSIZE ELECTION CHALLENGE

While the Liberal Democrats have yet to select their candidates, Belsize is where group leader Councillor Luisa Porritt is a councillor – setting up one of the more intriguing contests of May’s elections. It is one of the few wards where Labour are expected to struggle leaving two opposition parties to fight it out on a redrawn map.

“My family home is on Maresfield Gardens in the new Belsize ward, and it is an honour to stand up for residents who have been let down by Labour and Belsize’s two silent Lib Dem councillors,” said Cllr Cooper.

Cllr Porritt said: “The choice in May is clear. Hardworking Liberal Democrat councillors or Boris Johnson’s Conservatives who partied while the rest of us followed the rules.”