The Tory leader denies the Tories are struggling to hold London seats ahead of the general election

The Tory leader has dismissed rumors the party is struggling to find candidates in “difficult” London seats – but admitted he does not yet know where he will stand in the general election.

Richard Holden told the Standard it was “utter nonsense” to say the Tories don’t have enough potential candidates for areas such as Lambeth and Lewisham.

He said they would be announced in the “coming days.”

With five weeks to go before polling day, the party still needs to hold more than 100 seats in Britain after an exodus of sitting MPs.

More than 75 people have resigned ahead of the July 4 election, including cabinet minister Michael Gove.

Mr Holden said: “We are filling them absolutely fast and we will finish them in the next few days to make sure we have a full list of candidates.”

Asked about rumors the party was pushing for seats in the capital, Mr Holden added: “No, that’s complete nonsense.

“We have over 1,000 people on our candidate list.

“We have a lot of keen people who have already put their names down. We’ve had dozens of applications for very difficult places, such as Peckham, which was selected quite recently.

“So I’m absolutely confident that we have some fantastic candidates who will be shortlisted in just the coming days.”

Holden’s seat of Red Wall North West Durham, which he won in 2019, has been abolished and replaced with parts of four new constituencies.

Asked where he stands as an MP, he said: “I don’t know yet. Good question. I’m still waiting as part of all of this.”