Party Board approves emergency selection procedures for "imminent" General Election

The Party Board has met in the last 48 hours to approve new rules on candidate selection.

CCHQ will have the power to impose candidates on non-target seats after "consultation".  These powers can only be used when a General Election is "imminent" but they have been rushed through in anticipation of an increasingly likely autumn poll.

My CCHQ sources tell me that the imposed candidates will not necessarily be A-listers.

Seats that are currently held by the Conservatives or are marginal will follow the procedures that are used in by-elections.  A Special General Meeting will adopt a candidate within 48 hours of a General Election being called.  These procedures would apply in, for example, Croydon Central - following Andrew Pelling's suspension - and Henley - which Boris Johnson is under pressure to vacate because of his certain adoption as the Tories' Mayoral candidate.

Fourteen target seats have yet to select but some - notably in Scotland and including Chester and Eastleigh - are already due to select imminently.