Published Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Mike Nesbitt, who worked for both UTV and BBC Northern Ireland, has been selected as a prospective candidate for the Ulster Unionist/Conservative Party alliance in Strangford.
Read Ken Reid's blog: Westminster calling
Mr Nesbitt was selected by UUP members in the constituency on Tuesday.
While the decision will have to be ratified by the party executive and the joint Unionist and Tory candidacy committee, those are seen as largely rubber-stamping exercises.
The high-profile ex-broadcaster resigned from his current role as one of Northern Ireland's four Victims' Commissioners on Wednesday ahead of the forthcoming general election.
Mr Nesbitt told UTV that he had no regrets about his decision to move into politics.
"I went into the victims commission with one motivation with one motivation and that was to make a positive difference to people's day-to-day lives. And that's the same motivation which has prompted me to seek elected office for Strangford," he said.
"Because I'm not a commissioner, doesn't mean I won't have an interest in victims' issues and the work of the victims' commission."
He will be attempting to overturn a 13,000-plus majority secured by the Democratic Unionists when Mrs Robinson retained her seat in 2005.
The 60-year-old wife of DUP First Minister Peter Robinson resigned from her seat and left the party after revelations about her affair with a 19-year-old toyboy.
She is currently the subject of a police investigation over claims that she obtained £50,000 from two developer friends to help her lover set up in business, but failed to declare it.
Her husband temporarily stepped down from his First Minister role when the scandal broke in January in a bid to clear his name of claims that he did not alert the appropriate authorities when he became aware of his wife's dealings.
He returned to the post just before the signing of the landmark agreement with Sinn Fein over policing and parades earlier this month after saying a senior QC had found he had no case to answer.
Since then he has faced calls to publish the findings of the probe carried out by Paul Maguire.