A BEEKEEPER has been named as a Parliamentary candidate.

Brighton and Hove city councillor Robert Nemeth has been named as the

Conservative candidate for Hove and Portslade ahead of a likely snap general election.

The meeting of party members was originally set to take place on October 2 but it had to be postponed after his third child, Arnold, was born just hours before.

At the rescheduled meeting, Conservative members chose the Wish Ward representative – and professional beekeeper – as their candidate.

Cllr Nemeth, who was elected to Brighton and Hove City Council in 2015, said: “It means a lot to me that local members have chosen me as their candidate to represent this area which I love so much.

“As a Member of Parliament, I would be looking to make strong representations on behalf of the good people of Hove and Portslade when it comes to fighting crime, promoting small businesses, helping rough sleepers and improving the natural environment.

“As a councillor, I have run campaigns for those that I represent locally on Hove Library, the King Alfred, school catchments, tree planting and beach huts.

“These achievements are a solid foundation for a Parliamentary campaign and I can’t wait to get started in the morning.

“With the birth of my third child just hours before the original selection meeting was due to start, it has been quite a busy week.”

Cllr Nemeth won praise from residents last year after winning a fight with the council over a controversial tax on beach huts.

The plans to increase sales tax on beach huts by 3,000 per cent were scrapped, in part, after an intervention from the councillor.

He founded both the Friends of Hove Lagoon and Hove Beach Hut Association, and was a co-founder of the Secret Garden Group and the Blooming Boundary Campaign, which brought planters to Boundary Road.

Cllr Nemeth is also known as the city’s “beeman” after being called out to rescue a number of swarms across Brighton and Hove.

He even made a prime-time television appearance alongside Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain where she visited two of his 30 honey hives in Hassocks.

Cllr Nemeth will be hoping to unseat Labour’s Peter Kyle who was re-elected in 2017 with a majority of more than 18,000.