Henry Pike to replace Andrew Laming after preselection battle for Qld seat of Bowman

The sole male candidate in the running to replace dumped MP Andrew Laming has won a preselection battle for the seat of Bowman, despite revelations of embarrassing texts about women while he was a member of the Young LNP.

The sole male candidate in the running to replace dumped federal MP Andrew Laming has emerged victorious from an LNP preselection battle, in a win that goes against what the Prime Minister had hoped for.

Property Council director of media and communications Henry Pike will contest the seat of Bowman for the LNP, after winning a five-way preselection battle on Sunday.

The installation of Mr Pike goes against Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s wishes, conveyed internally, that he wanted a “strong female candidate” to replace Dr Laming.

Branch members picked Mr Pike despite revelations that a complaint had been made to the party about fat shaming texts he had sent about women during his time with the Young LNP more than a decade ago.

Henry Pike (LNP). Pic Mark Cranitch.

In response, Mr Pike said he was embarrassed about some of the things he said when younger and would never say them today.

He was backed by high-profile Queensland senator and close personal friend Amanda Stoker, who described him as a “rare find” and the “real deal”.

It’s understood young lawyer Maggie Forrest was a close second.

Mr Pike won 107 votes to Ms Forrest’s 88 and said if elected he would do his “best to leverage the power of the federal government to meet local needs”.

“I’m very excited to be chosen as the LNP candidate for Bowman. We live in a fast growing and vibrant community and we need to make sure that our infrastructure keeps up,” he said in a statement.

LNP President Cynthia Hardy said Mr Pike was a “hard working young dad who will if elected represent the people of Bowman well”.

Other candidates included Redland Mayor Karen Williams and businesswoman Fran Ward, who was the only person to challenge Dr Laming for the seat before he had been dumped.

Dr Laming, who has held the safe Coalition seat since 2004, was disendorsed by the LNP in April after refusing to formally withdraw his nomination to contest the next election.

The decision came after the veteran MP went on medical leave to undertake empathy training and counselling after harassment allegations involving female constituents came to light.

He later apologised to the two women.

There was also an allegation he had taken a photo of a young woman bending over in a skirt but it later emerged the woman had been wearing shorts and the photo had been taken from a distance.

The incident was reported to police but the investigation dropped after detectives determined there was “no evidence to indicate a criminal offence”.

In light of the accusations, Dr Laming talked to lawyers, engaging the same top defamation specialists as former Attorney-General Christian Porter.

Multiple politicians and journalists, including Senators Murray Watt, Sarah Hanson-Young and state MP Don Brown have since issued apologies and retracted comments made on social media.

Dr Laming said Bowman would be in “great hands” after the preselection of Mr Pike.

“Twenty years to the day after being preselected for what was a Labor seat, winning it and taking it over six elections to become greater Brisbane’s safest seat, it’s with overwhelming relief that I know Bowman will be in great hands,” he said.

“I’ve witnessed five extraordinary people and their visions for Redlands today. I am wishing Mr Pike every success going forward.”