After a career spanning decades selling toothpaste, a top businessman now aims to sell a political party in York.

Alan Page, 57, has been selected as Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats for the York Central constituency.

Married with three children, Alan admits he’s a ‘political outsider’ but believes being new to politics is no disadvantage.

London-born Alan gained a chemistry degree at Nottingham University and after a role with Tesco, began a decades long career with Colgate-Palmolive.

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The roles were in customer delivery and selling to big customers such as major retailers. It led to him working in Dublin, Hong Kong and across Asia, the USA, and then Basle in Switzerland, before being made redundant as Vice President of Global Customer Operations last year.

His career gave him much experience in global operations and managing relationships across a variety of differing cultures.

Alan and his wife were already planning to return to England, settling in York, buying a place just before the pandemic, as their children attended universities at Hull, Sheffield and Manchester.

His career gave him much experience in global operations and managing relationships across a variety of differing cultures. There are also transferable skills too.

“There is a crossover [in this] to what you learn in business, trying to sell something, why you choose a particular brand, be it toothpaste or a political party.”

"In business it's also about collaboration. That's what our politics needs, as opposed to fighting each other."

After around 20 years abroad, Alan says Britain is not the place it was, and Brexit was ‘traumatic’ for him.

But rather than just complain, Alan wanted to get involved politically, and the Liberal Democrats were the closest to his beliefs.

He said: “As something of a political outsider, I bring a fresh perspective and an unwavering commitment to restoring trust in politics while advocating for progressive policies that promote inclusivity, prosperity, and the creation of a fairer and greener society.

"I am deeply committed to transforming our broken political system so that it works in everyone’s interests, rather than just vested interests.

“We need leaders who are willing to challenge the status quo, prioritise the needs of the people over partisan interests, and work tirelessly to rebuild trust in our institutions."

Either way, Alan admits it will be a 'challenge' winning the constituency where the Liberal Democrats came third in 2019 on 8.4 per cent of the vote and well behind the runner-up Conservatives on 27.8 per cent, and even further behind Labour’s Rachael Maskell MP, with 55.2 per cent of the vote and a ‘safe’ 13,545 majority.

Westfield Ward Liberal Democrat Councillor Andrew Waller said: “I am looking forward to working with Alan to make progress on the issues that matter most to local residents such as more visible policing, helping households with the cost of living crisis, providing better funding for basic services, opportunities for young people in training and skills for a new economy, better transport, and access to the NHS when you need it.”

He added: “As Liberal Democrats we believe in working in partnership with residents to develop solutions, and Alan will bring real energy and enthusiasm to the team.”