Democracy movement names first candidate

Adam Lotun, a campaigner for the disabled

Democracy 2015, the movement launched by Andreas Whittam Smith, founder of The Independent, is to field its first parliamentary candidate in next month's Corby by-election.

He is Adam Lotun, a campaigner for the disabled, who describes himself on his blog as "a family man who holds traditional values, some say old-fashioned ideals, and someone who has become disaffected with our political system along with our coalition administration."

He added: "I have decided to stand for Parliament as I believe that there needs to be a change in the way of thinking of MPs, their work in their constituencies and their work in Parliament."

He began his career at a large NHS teaching hospital, but later moved into the IT industry, where in 1991 he suffered a workplace accident, which left him registered disabled.

He claims to have been manhandled by police during a protest in August outside the Department for Work and Pensions about the way work capability assessments are organised.

He had announced that he would run in Corby as an independent before he was offered the chance to be a candidate for Democracy 2015, a grassroots movement that aims to get people who have achievements outside politics into Parliament.

The by-election, on 15 November, was set off by the decision of Louise Mensch, a Tory, to quit politics to be with her husband in New York. She had a majority of 1,951.