Musicians and an Olympian are among those bidding to become MPs

Olympic athletes, top musicians and an ex-soap actor are among those standing to become Members of Parliament at the General Election.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree and rower James Cracknell are among the familiar figures seeking a seat in the House of Commons.

Mr Rowntree is standing as the Labour candidate in Mid Sussex, a traditionally Conservative seat represented until recently by work and pensions minister Mims Davies.

With the band Blur, the drummer is known for 1990s Britpop hits include Song 2 and Park Life.

At the 2019 election, Ms Davies had a majority of 18,197 over her Labour rival in the constituency. In the current election, Mr Rowntree will go up against Tory candidate Kristy Adams.

Ms Davies will instead stand in the nearby East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency.

Rock star Tom Gray from the band Gomez is standing as a Labour candidate in the Brighton Pavilion constituency, which was until recently represented by Green MP Caroline Lucas.

He defeated comedian Eddie Izzard in the selection process for the seat.

Double Olympic gold medal winner Mr Cracknell is vying to be the Tory MP for Colchester.

The rower, who competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, will contest a seat previously represented by Will Quince, who served as a minister under both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

Meanwhile in Bury North, a former Coronation Street actor is standing as an independent candidate.

Marc Anwar, who played Sharif Nazir in the long-running soap, is contesting the seat under his birth name Anwarul Haq.

He will go up against Tory candidate James Daly, who at the last election had a majority of just 105 over his nearest competitor, Labour’s James Frith.

The actor was axed from the ITV soap after Coronation Street bosses were alerted to Twitter comments he had made in 2016.

He apologised for them at the time and said the language he had used was “unacceptable”.

In Hertfordshire, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden will go up against Labour candidate Josh Tapper from Gogglebox.

Contesting the Hertsmere seat, home to Elstree Studios and the BBC EastEnders Albert Square set, Mr Tapper has the backing of another reality TV star – Zack from The Traitors.

Near Swansea, Marc Jenkins is the Conservative candidate for Gower, up against Labour incumbent Tonia Antoniazzi.

The Olympian finished last in the Athens 2004 men’s triathlon – but only after he hooked his bike over his right shoulder and ran for help after a crash.

According to reports from the time, he carried his bike nearly half a kilometre before he found the rescue station, where his bike was repaired.

He told ConservativeHome in May: “I don’t consider myself a ‘politician’.”