A FORMER East Hampshire MP has been chosen as the Tory candidate for Hampshire’s first elected £80,000-a-year police commissioner.

Michael Mates, 78, beat Portsmouth councillor Donna Jones, 35, to the Conservative nomination during a series of party members’ meetings.

He was announced as the Tory candidate after the final meeting yesterday at Lord Wandsworth College in Hook.

Mr Mates became Petersfield MP in 1974 and then represented the East Hampshire constituency between 1983 and 2010.

He led the Conservative opposition to the poll tax and was a Northern Ireland minister in John Major's government.

Hampshire County Council deputy leader Mel Kendall and Fareham Borough Council leader Sean Woodward were last month both rejected by voters at a US-style open primary held to whittle down six Tory candidates to two.

The election for the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner will be held on November 15.

Labour has selected Southampton deputy council leader and former Hampshire Police Authority chairman Jacqui Rayment as its candidate.