A councillor at the centre of the ‘ballotgate’ storm which denied her the Conservative nomination for Sir Jim Paice’s constituency has been rewarded by being selected for South Cambridgeshire.

St Albans councillor Heidi Allen was selected on Friday as the Conservative nominee for the Parliamentary seat currently held by Andrew Lansley.

Cllr Allen won the South Cambs nomination on the first ballot, defeating three others in an all women-final.

Last December Cllr Allen was embroiled in controversy after losing to Lucy Frazer for the SE Cambs nomination, only to learn later that a voting mix up meant she should have won. However the local association executive later voted to stick with Ms Frazer.

Conservative Home, a website promoting the party, described Cllr Allen’s selection for South Cambs as “sweet consolation after the horrendous mix up over the SE Cambs selection”.

One comment on Conservative Home described her success as “poetic justice”.

The furore over the SE Cambs selection prompted farmer Colin Barker to quit the SE Cambs Conservative Association after being a member for 25 years.

Mr Barker said: “The local association has no credibility left at all and many members have already resigned, with more to follow.”

Cllr Allen is managing director of the family manufacturing business. Born in Yorkshire, she studied Astrophysics at University College London before going on to work as an operations manager in organisations as diverse as Royal Mail, Tubelines, Esso and Churchill Insurance Group.