Kevin McKeever, who lost out to Conservative MP David Mackintosh in 2015 by just over 3,000 votes, has been selected to challenge the seat again by the central party.

Last year the PR director became the subject of death threats after left-wing website, the Canary, alleged he had been involved in an attempted coup to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

He denied the allegations, though he has openly spoken about his opposition to Mr Corbyn on previous occasions.

In a video blog posted in July last year, Mr McKeever, said: “The Labour Party has to be united around a credible candidate to be a Prime Minister and to form a government

“In my view, that’s not Jeremy Corbyn."

The blog was criticised by union members from ASLEF and the CWU in Northampton.

It is not yet known which Conservative party candidate Mr Mckeever will be running against after incumbent MP David Mackintosh sensationally resigned last week, amid the ongoing scrutiny of his role in the £10.25 million loan to Sixfields.

Former MP Sally Keeble has been selected to fight for Labour in the Northampton North seat, though she refused to be drawn on whether she supported Jeremy Corbyn in interviews with the Chronicle & Echo and the BBC last month.

Labour has also announced that elsewhere in Northamptonshire Andrea Watts will challenge for the Wellingborough seat, Sophie Johnson will challenge for South Northamptonshire, Beth Miller will stand in Corby, Aiden Ramsey will run in Daventry and current county councillor Mick Scrimshaw will run in Kettering.

The incident happened in Broadmead Avenue, Abington, at about 5pm on Sunday, April 30.

The victim was punched and had his bike and mobile phone stolen, and suffered two chipped teeth as a result of the assault.

Anyone with any information about the incident should contact Northamptonshire Police on 101.

Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The party that campaigned to leave the EU last year has announced the two candidates it intends to stand in the Northampton seats on June 8 this morning.

In Northampton North the party's county-wide spokesman Jonathan Bullock, who took 16 per cent fo the vote in the Kettering constituency two years ago, has been selected to contest seat-holder Michael Ellis.

The former policy director at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport lives in Geddington and has recently made a pact with Kettering MP Philip Hollobone not to oppose him, as long as Mr Hollobone agrees to support UKIP’s main policies.

After being selected today, Mr Bullock has now made a similar offer to Conservative Mr Ellis.

He said: "If he agrees without reservation that the Brexit campaign was right and signs a similar pact to the one that I have just agreed with Philip Hollobone, I will not oppose him - otherwise he can prepare for the fight of his political life."

Mr Ellis campaigned to remain in last year's EU referendum, and wrote on his website that “jobs will not be safe, mortgages will be at risk and funding for local schools and hospitals will fall” in the event of a leave vote.

Also announced this morning, former local government political assistant Rose Gibbins has been confirmed as UKIP's candidate in Northampton South.

Mrs Gibbins, originally from Loch Lomond in Scotland, came third in the 2015 election when she stood for the same seat and intends to fight for a new teaching hospital in Northampton to help the NHS recruit doctors. She also intends to campaign for a light railway in the town if elected.

She said: "As a UKIP candidate, I am not bound by a party whip which means I am free to represent people instead of politics and ensure that their voice is heard.

"Almost 60 percent of people in Northampton voted to leave the European Union in the referendum.

"If elected, I intend to hold Mrs May to account to deliver the deal they voted for. Not a “hard” Brexit, not a “soft” Brexit, just Brexit."

A CCTV image has been released in connection with an alleged theft from a Northampton supermarket where a man is believed to have pinched a bottle of spirits.

The incident happened at around 9.50pm on Sunday, April 9 at the Co-op store in Wootton Hope Drive.

A man is believed to have entered the store, gone behind the till area and selected a bottle of spirits before concealing it and leaving.

Officers are keen to locate the man pictured, who may be able to assist the investigation and are urging him to make contact.

Anyone with any information relating to his whereabouts can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101. Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The driver of a lorry that collided with an embankment on the M1 in Northamptonshire last week has died as a result of his injuries.

On Friday, April 28, at about 5am, a DAF articulated LGV left the motorway between junction 15 and the Newport Pagnell services.

The driver was airlifted to University Hospitals Coventry, but Northamptonshire Police has confirmed that he has since passed away.

Anyone with information, or who witnessed the incident, is asked to call the Drivewatch Hotline on 0800 174 615, quoting the incident number 50 28/04/2017.

The Boardman Hybrid black and blue bike was taken between 1.30pm and 2.30pm on April 22 from Adnitt Street, off the A4500.

Anyone who has been offered a bike like this for sale or with any information can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101.

Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

The incident happened in Waitrose car park in Kingsthorpe just before 10am on Thursday, April 27.

The child was with its mother when the suspect approached and said the little one should be in a pushchair.

She then picked the girl up and put her in the pushchair and proceeded to slap her face when she started to cry, before walking off.

The suspect is described as white, in her "60s, about 5ft 4in with a slim build and black, frizzy long hair. She wore bright-red lipstick, a black coat and black trousers and boots," a spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police said.

Officers would like to hear from anybody who witnessed the incident. Anyone with any information can contact Northamptonshire Police on 101.

Alternatively, they can call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Despite support from senior members of Northampton South Conservative Association, Mr Binley will not be among the three people set to contest the candidacy at a crucial meeting at Sixfields tonight.

Members will now vote between three hopefuls - current East Midlands MEP Andrew Lewer, New Forest District Council member, Councillor Emma Lan and Louis Mosley - the current chairman of the Hackney Conservative Federation.

Brian Binley held the seat between 2005 and 2015, and last Friday revealed he would be willing to run for it again if the central party wanted him to.

He told the Chron: "I suppose there are extreme circumstances in life - there are times when you have to answer your country's call."

The former MP, however, was often critical of David Cameron during his time in office and once warned the then Prime Minister that his "inner circle" was damaging British politics.

It means that none of the three candidates will be local to Northampton, despite that being the preference of the senior Conservatives the Chron spoke to.

Andrew Lewer grew up in Ashbourne, Derbyshire and became the leader of Derbyshire County Council in 2009 before being elected to the European Parliament.

Londoner Louis Mosley lives with his young family in Hoxton, and runs his own business near Dalston. He is also nephew of former FIA supremo Max Mosley.

Councillor Lane represents the Ringwood East and Sopley ward in the New Forest area of Hampshire.

If you're not sure that a snippet of local news you've seen on social media is fact or fake we can check it out.

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As we approach the most significant national election in a generation, the need for independent local newspapers and their websites to report and explain the issues in an entirely neutral, honest and balanced way is essential.

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This election will be different from any other. It is not simply that the outcome will define our future relationship with the EU and the manner in which it is negotiated; but it will be held in the context of the phenomenon of fake news.

In the past 12 months there has barely been a single global event - from the election of the President of the United States to an incident involving a gunman at a Washington pizzeria - that has not been infected by the suggestion that entirely fabricated information designed to deceive had been circulated indiscriminately via social media.

Fake news takes many forms and operates at several levels. At its most extreme and democratically destructive, it comprises deliberately and maliciously contrived statements which are cynically distributed in the guise of real news with the aim of deceiving for political or financial gain.

More frequently, it is an unsubstantiated rumour indiscriminately posted on social media sites which rapidly gains credence, to the distress of those featured in it and the alarm of all who read it. Repetition through 'shares' and 'likes' adds an undeserved authority. Comment, unlabelled as such, masquerades as truth; satire is confused with reality.

'Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth', is a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels.

It is little surprise that major businesses - whose role is critical to jobs and the economic success on which we all depend - are increasingly shunning digital sites that have placed their advertisements alongside extremist and offensive material.

That would never happen within our print and digital pages. When you advertise your business with us, you are sharing in the family values that underpin everything we do. We are uniquely placed to ensure that our newspapers and websites enhance and magnify your values. Your advertisements will appear alongside content that meets the very high standards to which our profession is committed.

Fake news can be hard to identify. In November, a BuzzFeed News analysis found that top fake presidential election news stories generated more total engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined.

The great global social media conglomerates have been slow to respond and grudging to intervene. When they do, they give the impression that their intercession is more favour than obligation. They sit outside all normal regulation that robustly holds traditional media to account and they are often immune from actions for defamation or contempt.

You would have thought politicians would have made the eradication of these hoax story sites a top priority, demanding that the global internet and social media giants must be made responsible for what they transmit.

Instead, it is established newspapers and their websites which continue to be the political whipping boys, expected to submit to the most rigorous regulation and the threat of the most pernicious and damaging regime of court costs on the planet while they seek to pursue honest, investigative journalism in the public interest.

Unlike social media and the major digital platforms, this newspaper and its website are accountable for every single word we publish.

We have signed up to a comprehensive Editors' Code of Practice - which even our detractors have imitated - and we and all our staff have contractually bound themselves to its requirements. This code encompasses everything from accuracy to privacy, harassment, intrusion into grief or shock, protecting children, reporting crime, and the use of clandestine devices and subterfuge.

It is explicit in the sensitivity we show in reporting suicides and protecting the most vulnerable in society, not least the victims of sexual assault.

As a result, virtually all the content that we generate ourselves is produced by journalists trained by the National Council for the Training of Journalists to the highest industry benchmarks. These reporters are qualified in a range of skills - from newspaper law and ethics to shorthand, to ensure we get every quote right.

Every word they write is checked in local newspaper offices by qualified, senior experts and if we do make a genuine mistake, you can contact us immediately - we are real people, locally based, living in our shared communities. We're not some digital algorithm.

We are passionate and exquisitely professional about the way in which we hold decision makers to account, represent our home towns, and provide news and information that is suitable for whole families.

We are honest brokers of local information, upholding the values that you share with us, seeking always to do the right thing no matter how difficult that can sometimes be in fast changing times.

That all costs money. When you buy our paper or advertise with us you are supporting the very journalism and quality that keeps integrity at the heart of all we do.

We make a real difference.

In the past year alone, the campaigns run by local newspapers have highlighted threats to hospitals and in one specific case a serious failing in a local authority's children's services.

Another investigation led to the revelation of allegations of child abuse among drivers working for a council.

Many local newspapers have been in existence for a century or more. They have often been the single catalyst for social change. At heart, they are the conscience of a community and the defender of its truth.

Our title piece is a hall mark for our core value.

With pride, we provide trusted news and honest advertisement platforms and thanks to the tireless diligence of our editorial staff you can be confident that our stories are always exactly what they purport to be: the genuine article. Fact - not fake.

In a design and access statement prepared by Pegasus Group, the proposed development boasts an opportunity for the provision of a new secondary school as well as two new primary schools set within the 3,000 houses in Dallington Grange, which promises to create employment opportunities for residents.

But the move had been greatly delayed over a dispute over where the access roads should go.

One of many to object, Steven Antipolo said: "After studying the proposals I am somewhat bemused by how many points of access are proposed. There is one to the east of Mill Lane that’s acceptable, no great inconvenience to anyone and another on the new build west corridor off Harlestone Road and then from those several points of access to the estate thereafter.

"I strongly object to the plans as they are, access via existing residential sites needs to come off the plans as it is not needed. I didn’t see any plans which suggested a benefit to these access points to residents of Dallington Grange or either Ryehill or Kings Heath. Nice, surely this is true in some cases but not essential to the point of requiring the level of change and disruption required."

In a planning statement amendment submitted on March 31, Pegasus Group said: "The proposed development remains similar in nature and scale to that originally submitted but there have been some changes in response to consultation comments received.

"[An] amendment to red line boundary to include a vehicular access onto Medway Drive, Kings Heath to serve up to 100 dwellings," as well as a "revised location of the southern primary school so as to be co-located with the secondary school."

Resident Yvonne Lamb, said: "I am greatly against this as all around that area is a wildlife and horse habitat and to build such a monstrous venture would be an insult to what bit of green land we have left for our visual entertainment.

"So, therefore, I strongly oppose this planning proposal. We already have Kings Heath, Kingsthorpe, St James and the town centre, as well as Harlestone Manor, so why do we need to destroy this area for another urban site when we have enough throughout this town for residents to choose."

The proposals, which have been greatly delayed, also say how there will be a new sports playing fields, a food store, a restaurant or cafe (which one is to be decided), a hot food takeaway and a pub.

Another resident who opposes plans said: "The back of the bungalow my mum resides in is directly on the proposed application's boundary line, which means proposed developments will affect my mum directly - and in my opinion lower her quality of life and affect her care and ability to live safely in her home."

"Currently, my mum is safe in this little cul-de-sac 'haven' of Nene Drive bungalows allocated to vulnerable tenants. It is an oasis of peace and security. It is cruel that after taking two years to get the back adapted for mum to be able to get out and enjoy some fresh air in her garden, as she has become vitamin D deficient, she now has to contend with the upheaval of living next to what will effectively be a construction site opposite her back garden for the foreseeable future.

"Moreover, if the proposed building goes ahead it will effectively change the area she lives in to the extent it will lower her quality of life."

The developers want to "enhance the existing public transport network by providing a high-quality replacement or extended bus services through the site and with a good service frequency" the statement says. "The majority of allocated parking will be provided on the plot."

But the artist, who has also spray-painted the famous chicken in other locations such as London and Dubai, has confirmed that she is happy to repaint the much-loved artwork situated on the A45 if Harpole Parish Council gives her the green light.

One resident is even supporting the reinstatement of the Binty chicken on the bus stop at the Harpole Turn and is asking for people to email in their objections so they can be voiced at the next parish council meeting.

The artist known as Binty said: "I feel sad but I was more shocked that so many people commented [on Facebook]. I would love to paint over it again.

"I have children and I want to paint stuff to make people smile and spread happiness."

The artist, who wishes to remain anonymous, drew a chicken one night - with wellies on - and, after gaining her daughters' approval, decided that she would paint the chicken to showcase her talents.

Since the paint job, over 500 residents have taken to social media to voice their disapproval.

On Facebook Adele Harding said: "Harpole people all want it, so if we are happy to see it, then leave it alone, please. It's something happy and quirky to talk about for once."

A spokesman for Harpole Parish Council said: "The bus shelter is the responsibility of Harpole Parish Council and a situation developed whereby the cleaners were having to deal with the after-effects of people urinating and defecating in the shelter.

"The parish council felt that best way to combat this was to open out the shelters and resolved that the front curtain walls be removed. At the same time, windows were installed - which effectively removed the chicken. This work took place in December 2016, so the chicken hasn't been visible since then.

"The parish council subsequently resolved that the shelters should be painted, and also given an anti-graffiti glaze. The issue will be further discussed at Harpole Parish Council's next meeting on May 8."

All objections can be sent to Sarah Billings at bintybusstop@gmail.com.

She described how the two offenders approached her several times on the night, before dragging her into a dark alleyway - Jeyes Jetty, off Bridge Street - while she was walking alone to meet her boyfriend.

Two men were sentenced in Northampton Crown Court on April 28 for a combined total of 42 years for the 'vile, wicked and violent' rape in April 2016.

His Honour Judge Timothy Smith, in sentencing, said: "The effect on the victim has been considerable. She no longer feels safe and, in my opinion, shows serious signs of post-traumatic stress."

Beniamin-Ovidiu Ban, 30, of Clare Street, Northampton, was found guilty of two counts of rape by a unanimous verdict at a trial in December last year, where the evidence was described as 'overwhelming'.

Cosmin Vintan, 27, also of Clare Street, Northampton, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape. He had a previous conviction for a 'disturbingly similar' attack in Romania, for which he was released in 2013 after eight years in prison.

The girl, in her victim impact statement that was read out to the court, said: "What happened to me that night after I left my friends has affected me in every way.

"I was a happy, confident 17-year-old girl. I used to go out often and I was not scared of the dark. Since April last year, everything has changed."

Judge Smith, in sentencing the two men, said: "On that night, you approached the victim several times and tried to dance with her, but friends intervened to tell you to back off. She was not interested.

"The girls and her friends left to take a taxi and you followed them. To what I imagine will be the victim's eternal regret, she got out the taxi and said she would walk to meet her boyfriend at his job as a doorman.

"She was alone, she was intoxicated and she was vulnerable. You, Vintan, put an arm around her and steered her into a dark, seedy alleyway. You, Ban, followed.

"It was there that you both raped her and threatened to kill her if she screamed."

The two offenders were later arrested after DNA evidence identified Vintan.

The girl said: "Since then, I struggle in my day-to-day life. I'm terrified of the dark. I cannot cope with being on my own. The slightest noise puts me on edge and I don't go out alone anymore.

"I have had trouble sleeping ever since. I dream of dark places and have flashbacks to them attacking me. I wake up scared, terrified that someone is in my room.

"The lack of sleep has had a severe knock-on effect on my college work and I am behind in my A-levels.

"Whenever possible, I avoid the town centre and I hate going near that alleyway. If a man walks past me, I freeze up.

"I don't go out with my friends on the town anymore, and I miss them. I've grown more distant with my boyfriend as I don't like talking about what happened. I don't like being touched and it makes me flinch. It all makes me feel so guilty but I can not help it."

Vintan was sentenced to 23 years in prison, while Ban was sentenced to 19 years.

Speaking to Vintan, Judge Smith said: "I can see little evidence of insight, understanding or remorse you have into the harm you've caused.

"This young woman will have to live with what you did for the rest of her life."

Sophie Foster and Oli Tarry of Kingsthorpe said their two-year-old cat, Buddy, was shot last week by an unknown attacker and it has since been "touch and go" for the tabby.

Sophie said: "My partner is heartbroken, Buddy is not just a cat, but he is part of the family.

"He's showing signs of recovery, but he's still not out of the danger zone, there were four major wounds. The vet is amazed he is still alive.

"He loves his sister and roaming over the golf course and is really fussy."

The pair started to show concern when Buddy did not return home for dinner on Tuesday, April 25 and upon his arrival on Wednesday, they noticed he started to look unhappy.

Immediately, they took him for a check-up and a vet discovered the pellet travelled through his spleen and into his intestine.

After an x-ray, the vet confirmed Buddy had been shot twice, one shooting was four weeks prior and some of his intestines have now been removed as a result of his injuries.

Oli added: "What's happened to our boy is absolutely sickening, we hope Buddy will make a full recovery, seeing him in such a horrible way is heartbreaking. Let's hope we find out which evil human has done this."

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Next week, we will be staging an Interactive Day, where we will open many of our newsrooms to our readers through our digital platforms.

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Our campaign will also open out our journalists to check stories you may have heard about. Fact not Fiction will run throughout the campaign offering our readers the opportunity to ask our journalists to check out stories for them.

We will be talking to the business community and senior people in our communities to ask them to say why they value the trusted news service we deliver every day.

Our plea to you today is to support this campaign, support local journalism which is under constant threat from unregulated, free and inferior content providers and to get involved with your local newspaper and website publisher.

Lewis Joss, 21, beat seven other contestants for the title of Close-Up Magician of the Year with a 'well polished and very technical' routine.

He made wedding rings vanish and produced cards signed by the audience from his mouth to impress the Northamptonshire's Magicians Club at the contest in Brafeld-on-the-Green Working Men's Club, off Bedford Road.

Lewis, a member of the exclusive magician's group The Magic Circle said: "I've been practising since I was six when my grandad used to show me some basic tricks. I love that sense of not knowing how it's done.

"The best part is performing though, and seeing your audience show the same response I had when I first saw the trick.

"I never expected to win. I knew all the contestants and their unique styles and thought I had a tough act, but I was over the moon when they read my name out.

"I have to travel to Northamptonshire from Bedford because there's a much bigger magic scene here than in other counties, thanks mostly to the club."

The Northamptonshire Magicians Club was established in 1926 and recently celebrated their 90th anniversary.

President of the Northamptonshire Magicians Club Matthew Garrett said: "Lewis' routine was a very polished and technically interesting performance. It was confident with good patter with the audience.

"I don't know how he did all of it."

Lewis is the 51st winer of the award, which has been running since 1966.

Lewis said: "I like to think I'm very cheeky when I perform. I had a member of the audience sign a card, then I made it appear out of my pocket, out my wallet, out of my sleeve and finally out my mouth. Then I link an audience member's wedding ring through a bigger hoop and hand it around for them to inspect, then make the ring vanish."

Spurred out by the award, Lewis is now preparing his first touring show, which will be a double act with a friend.

Back in September, Palace Capital submitted a planning application to Northampton Borough Council to convert the former Gala Casino site in Mare Fair to restaurant use.

The firm bought Sol Central in June 2015 for £20.7 million and promised to invest heavily in revamping the 200,000 square ft site.

But a trading update released yesterday has revealed the London-based property firm is putting the full revamp on ice.

The statement read: "Due to the leisure market slowing somewhat since last summer, the company is deferring its major reconfiguration but is going ahead with installing a new roof and implementing a major lighting scheme for this building."

The rest of the trading report speaks positively of the site, however.

The owners claim to have received £600,000 in rent from the hotel operators Accor, adding that the property is providing shareholders with a "satisfactory return".

The company has also engaged a "major firm of parking consultants" to consider whether it is capable of increasing revenue from the car park.

"The consultants have monitored the car park for several months and have made recommendations," the statement reads. "As a result, there is potential for a major increase in revenue in the second half of the current financial year."

The planning application for Sol Central, which houses a Vue cinema, aimed to "give it a fresh impetus and improve the eating out experience” there according to the company's chief executive Neil Sinclair.

But it was submitted just weeks after the borough council announced that a cinema complex would form part of the new Greyfriars development less than half a mile away.

Now that the warm (er) weather is threatening to show its face, plenty of Britons are rolling up their sleeves to do what they do best - DIY.

The industry is worth hundreds of millions of pounds each year, thanks to the hordes who traipse up the concrete aisles of vast warehouse units on industrial estates in search of the perfect replacement door handle or, if you are particularly daring, ornate coving for the living room.

While our lives have changed dramatically over the past two decades thanks to busy young nerds in the Silicon Valley, many homeowners are still more than happy to plane an inch off a door to accommodate a freshly laid shag pile when we could be Facetiming grandma.

But it appears that our love affair with the extendable paint roller could be on the wane after a new study revealed that younger men are just as likely to don a pinny and knock out a score of hot fairy cakes than they are to clean out the guttering.

Apparently only a quarter of men under 34 feel confident enough to tackle standard DIY, compared to half of those over 65. And while there will be some who will point to the findings as further evidence that Millennials are hopeless cases who couldn’t find their backsides with both hands, I actually take heart from it.

I get a perverse sense of pride in the fact that I am officially useless when it comes to anything which involves hammers, saws and those pointy things used tighten household appliances (I believe they are called screwdrivers). Fixing stuff in our house either involves Mrs Tapp digging out the toolbox which some clown bought me a decade ago or a mercy mission from my long suffering father-in-law. I really have no shame.

It is not that I haven’t made any attempts to discover my inner Nick Knowles as I once managed to erect a single fence post at a former home. That it took me eight hours and an entire bag of cement is further evidence for the prosecution.

I have long since stop caring that I always score very badly on those ‘how many of these simple DIY tasks can you do?’ quizzes which pop up in magazines and newspapers every couple of years.

I refuse to blush at the fact that I haven’t got a clue how to change a plug and it isn’t uncommon for flatpacked furniture to stay, unpacked, in its box for so long in our house that it becomes a conversation piece.

I used to bleed the radiators at home until I managed to cause a flood of near biblical proportions and left us without central heating during the middle of a December cold snap.

I am not ashamed to admit my eyes glaze over when my handier peers discuss the challenges of wallpapering or the vagaries of fitting a stud wall. The way I see it, I am helping to keep the tradesmen of the land in business with my inability to tell one end of a claw hammer from the other.

If I am being honest, I am quite glad that younger generations would rather be slaving over the hob than fixing the flat roof because it might just mean that chaps like me be seen as the Alpha Male one day. Possibly.

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Natalie Crawford, 34, of Duston has knowingly suffered from Cystic Fibrosis since she was 28 weeks pregnant with her son, Preston now five, after she was misdiagnosed with severe asthma.

Natalie said: "The reason I run and the reason I will never give up is because everyone needs a hero with a little defiance.

"Not only will I strive to be the hero for my amazing children, but if I can reach out to others and be that positive role model in times of darkness, then every stride I take as my lungs burn and the sting will be worth it."

She is now raising £7,000 for an airway clearance vest for both her and son, Preston after both being diagnosed with a rare form of Cystic Fibrosis.

Natalie and Preston are one of the only documented cases where both mother and son suffer from the exact same, extremely rare gene mutation that causes Cystic Fibrosis Mutation D1152H.

It is difficult to clear and this can cause permanent lung scarring from persistent coughing and infection. It also means she is not expected to live beyond 40-years-old...but she is determined to beat those odds

Natalie is appealing for funding to purchase an airway clearance unit for both her and Preston, which is not readily available on the NHS but can be bought from the USA.

Along with the unit, she will buy two vests, so both her and Preston can attach them to the ventilation machine to help them breathe more clearly.

She hopes the 205 Airway Clearance Vest will provide her and her son with improved lung functions and potentially a longer lifespan.

To donate: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/t1-vest

The constituency's Conservative Association has chosen Derbyshire-based MEP Andrew Lewer to run for the seat on June 8.

The secret ballot of members held at Sixfields Stadium last night was due to be contested by three out-of-town hopefuls, but London-based Louis Mosley, the nephew of former Formula One tycoon Max Mosley, did not appear.

It left former Derbyshire County Council leader Mr Lewer, 45, to contest the candidacy against New Forest District Council member, Councillor Emma Lane.

After his victory late last night, Mr Lewer admitted he had only been given the call to run for the Northampton South candidacy that morning.

Though it had been rumoured some local grandees would have preferred a more local candidate, Mr Lewer said he was confident of his chances.

He said: "We have got a strong national message with Theresa May on the doorstep. It's the choice between Jeremy Corbyn or Theresa May that will really resound with people, and I know it has been doing."

He added: "This is a big job, but I am used to big, challenging campaigns.

"In 2009 people said we would never take control of Derbyshire, people said it would always be Labour, but we took it by the scruff of its neck."

Mr Lewer becomes the candidate for the Conservatives after MP David Mackintosh quit late last Thursday night. The embattled MP's position had become virtually untenable after he lost the executive support of his constituency association.

But when asked last night whether the recent press around his predecessor had left him at a disadvantage, Mr Lewer said: "I don't think so. I think tonight is a new leaf. We have turned the page and we have a reinvigorated association."

Mr Lewer said he intends to start campaigning in Northampton South next week.