ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Seven (mainly plum) seats start selecting

1. Bournemouth West
2. Cannock Chase
3. Castle Point
4. Halesowen and Rowley Regis
5. Old Bexley and Sidcup
6. Rochester and Strood
7. Westmorland and Lonsdale      

According to CCHQ:

• "The closing date for these applications is midday on Friday 30th May.
• Only applications on the standard CV template (attached to this email) will be accepted.  Please only use this template.
• Once complete, TWO signed copies of the standard CV template should be sent to Gareth Fox at The Candidates Team, CCHQ, 30 Millbank, London    SW1P 4DP.  You must comply with this.
• The CV should run to no more than 2 pages plus the 1 page cover sheet. Any CVs submitted that do not meet this criteria will not be accepted.  These pages must be stapled.
• Please do not include photographs on your CVs.
• Emailed CVs are not acceptable, they must be hard copies."

Flyde will be in the autumn, we understand.  More on Henley in a few minutes...

Tranche 5, phase 3

Applications close 29th November:

• Birkenhead
• Bristol East
• Bristol South
• Bristol West
• Ceredigion
• Darlington
• Halton
• Hartlepool
• Hyndburn
• Kingswood
• Middlesbrough
• Newcastle-under-Lyme
• Oxford East
• Preston
• Redcar
• Rother Valley
• Scunthorpe
• Sedgefield
• Southampton Itchen
• Swansea East
• Torfaen
• Warrington North
• Wolverhampton North East
• Worsley and Eccles South
• Wrexham
• York Central

Tranche Five, Phase Two

The latest tranche of seats open for selection has been released:

• Alyn and Deeside      
• Birkenhead      
• Cambridge      
• Cardiff Central      
• Cardiff South and Penarth      
• Clwyd South      
• Croydon North      
• Derby South      
• Feltham and Heston      
• Halton      
• Hayes and Harlington      
• Hazel Grove      
• Houghton and Sunderland South      
• Ilford South      
• Luton North      
• Luton South      
• Middlesbrough      
• North East Derbyshire      
• Norwich North      
• Norwich South      
• Plymouth Moor View      
• Sherwood      
• Southampton Test      
• Stockton North      
• Swansea West      
• Wallasey      
• Warrington North      
• Washington and Sunderland West

Applications close Tuesday October 23rd. Use the PBC for boundary changes and UKPollingReport for projected majorities.

Scottish mini-tranche of seats open for applications

None are expected to turn Tory this time:

• Central Ayrshire
• Aberdeen South
• East Lothian
• Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock

Shireen Ritchie: Candidates will be in place for an autumn election

18DoughtyStreet's Iain Dale interviews Shireen Ritchie, Chairman of the Conservative Party's Candidates Committee.  Mrs Ritchie says that the party will have all candidates in place for an autumn election - should it take place - and she discusses the difficulties that the party is still experiencing in recruiting more women to the candidate's list.  The video extract below is 150 seconds long and the full interview can be watched here.

 

Fifth tranche of seats released

Closing date for applications is Monday 10th September.

Chester (re-run)
Dudley North
Dudley South
Ellesmere Port and Neston
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport (re-run)
Portsmouth South
Southport (re-run)
St Ives
Walsall North
Walsall South
Ynys Mon

For information on all constituencies and candidates click here for the most recent release of our database.

Deputy Editor

Scottish priority seat selection timetable

Yesterday we noted the concern of Scottish Conservatives worried by the lack of timetable for the selection of candidates to Wetminster seats. Scottish Central Office have today sent out a list of dates for the selection in eight priority seats.

This is the list of seats together with the application deadline, the interview dates and the current majority:

Argyll & Bute 3rd September 2007 5th & 8th September 2007 Lib Dem majority 5636 (13%)

Moray 11th September 2007 13th & 16th September 2007 SNP majority 5676 (14.6%)

Dumfries & Galloway 17th September 2007 19th & 22nd September 2007 Labour majority 2922 (5.7%)

Angus 18th September 2007 20th & 23rd September 2007 SNP majority 1601 (4.2%)

Stirling 14th September 2007 21st & 25th September & 2nd October 2007 Labour majority 4767 (10.9%)

Perth & North Perthshire 24th September 2007 26th & 29th September 2007 SNP majority 1521 (3.3%)

Edinburgh South 25th September 2007 27th & 30th September 2007 Labour majority 405 (0.9%)

Ochil & South Perthshire 1st October 2007 3rd & 6th October 2007

The Chairman of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk is on holiday, but the date of that selection will be announced following his return.

When will Scotland's Tories start selecting?

ConservativeHome has been contacted by Scottish Conservatives worried at the lack of timetable for the selection of candidates for Westminster seats.  Both the Scottish and Welsh parties delayed any selections until after May's Edinburgh/ Cardiff elections but the Welsh party has got on with the job of selecting candidates.  Two have already been adopted and a number of other key selections are well under way.  The Scottish party were unable to provide any timetable yesterday.  Only two candidates are currently in place - Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell and the fast-tracked candidate for East Renfrewshire, Richard Cook.

Some are blaming the lack of direction at Scottish Conservative HQ.  Former MP Peter Duncan recently resigned as Scottish Chairman.

Welsh tranche of seats

Six of the more promising Welsh seats are now open for applications:

Cardiff North (Labour incumbent - 1146 majority)
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Lab - 2063)
Gower (Lab - 6703)
Montgomeryshire (Lib - 7020)
Vale of Clwyd (4726)
Ynys Mon (1242)

Candidates have until Monday 18th June to send their CVs in.

Deputy Editor

CCHQ announces 18 more seats for selection

The deadline for this latest tranche of seats is 2pm on Monday 11th June:

1. Batley and Spen
2. Blackpool South
3. Chorley
4. Eastleigh
5. Ellesmere Port and Neston
6. Hazel Grove
7. Hendon
8. North East Derbyshire
9. Penistone and Stocksbridge
10. Sheffield Hallam
11. Stretford and Urmston
12. Thornbury and Yate
13. Thurrock
14. Walsall North
15. Walsall South
16. Wolverhampton North East
17. Wolverhamton South East
18. Yeovil

19 more seats start selection process

1. Amber Valley
2. Barrow and Furness
3. Dewsbury
4. Crewe and Nantwich
5. Derby North
6. Dover
7. Gillingham and Rainham
8. Halifax
9. Harrow West
10. Hyndburn
11. Ipswich
12. North Cornwall
13. Nottingham South
14. Rochester and Strood
15. Sunderland Central
16. Wakefield
17. Waveney
18. Weaver Vale
19. West Lancashire

Dover, Gillingham and Rainham and North Cornwall are three seats that 'got away' from previous tranches.

The closing date for these applications is 2.00 pm on Monday Wednesday 23rd May.

1.30pm: CCHQ has just reissued the list as Derby North had already selected!  Must have given Stephen Mold a fright!  They also took the opportunity to correct the deadline for applications and to move Sunderland to the north east.  The original email had this seat in the south west.  Poor CCHQ.  I have days like that sometimes, too!

The ones that got away

There have been a number of selections recently, but some seem to have fallen by the wayside:

Applications closed 19th May 2006 for:

Luton North - Notional Lib Dem Labour Majority of 6437 (16.4%)

Applications closed 8th September 2006 for:

North Cornwall - Notional Lib Dem Majority of 5477 (12.9%)

Applications closed 13th October 2006 for:

Gillingham and Rainham - Notional Conservative Majority 500 (1.1%)
Rochester and Strood - Notional Conservative Majority 1501 (3.3%)
Waveney - Notional Lab Majority 5936 (12%)

Applications closed 8th November 2006 for:

Dover - Notional Lab Maj. 5061 (10.4%)
Halesowen and Rowley Regis - Notional Lab Maj. 4140 (10%)
Ipswich - Notional Lab Maj. 5274 (12%)
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport - Notional Lab Maj. 4305 (10.7%)
Portsmouth South - Notional Lib Dem Maj. 3181 (8.5%)

Constituencies haven't always been consulted before being included in a tranche which can make things difficult. It would be interesting to know what else has caused this, although any comments that stir up trouble unnecessarily are liable for deletion!

Deputy Editor

Five new seats invite candidate applications

Five more seat selections have just been announced by CCHQ:

1. Dagenham and Rainham
2. Darlington
3. Ealing North
4. Poplar and Limehouse
5. Sedgefield

The closing date for applications to these seats is 2pm on 2nd April.

25 seats in latest tranche

All of these seats will select under the new guidelines:

1. Barrow and Furness
2. Bassetlaw
3. Bath
4. Birmingham Northfield
5. Birmingham Selly Oak
6. Calder Valley
7. Camborne and Redruth
8. Colchester
9. Copeland
10. Coventry North West
11. Derby North
12. Erewash
13. Exeter
14. Hammersmith
15. Harrogate and Knaresborough
16. Kingston and Surbiton
17. Leeds North East
18. Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland
19. Morecambe and Lunesdale
20. North Warwickshire
21. Slough
22. Stockton South
23. Twickenham
24. Warrington South
25. Warwick and Leamington

Deadline for applications is 2pm on 15th February.

Twelve seats in third tranche

CCHQ has just released the next list of selecting seats.  The deadline for applications is 2pm on 15th January.  The list of twelve includes the two plum seats of retiring MPs Angela Browning (Tiverton and Honiton) and Michael Mates (Hampshire East).

1. Bradford West
2. Cheadle
3. Colne Valley
4. East Hampshire
5. Kingswood
6. Lancaster and Fleetwood
7. Lincoln
8. Nuneaton
9. Richmond Park
10. Tiverton and Honiton
11. Tooting
12. Warrington South.

Thirty seats in third phase of second tranche

The closing date for these applications is 2.00 pm on Thursday 9th November.

1. Berwick Upon Tweed
2. Brentford and Isleworth
3. Brighton Kemptown
4. Brighton Pavilion
5. Chatham and Aylesford
6. Colchester
7. Copeland
8. Dover
9. Elmet and Rothwell
10. Gedling
11. Gloucester
12. Halesowen and Rowley Regis
13. Hampstead and Kilburn
14. Hastings and Rye
15. Hereford and South Herefordshire
16. Ipswich
17. Keighley
18. Newquay and St Austell
19. Newton Abbott
20. North Norfolk
21. Northampton North
22. Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
23. Portsmouth South
24. Rossendale and Darwen
25. Rugby
26. South Basildon and East Thurrock
27. Sutton and Cheam
28. Tynemouth
29. Wirral South
30. Wolverhampton South West

26 seats in second phase of second tranche

1. Blackpool North and Cleveleys
2. Bristol North West
3. Carlisle
4. Cheltenham
5. Coventry South
6. Finchley and Golders Green
7. Gillingham and Rainham
8. Harrogate and Knaresborough
9. Harrow East
10. Leeds North West
11. Meon Valley
12. Mid Dorset and North Poole
13. North Devon
14. North West Leicestershire
15. North Westminster
16. Oxford West and Abingdon
17. Pudsey
18. Rochester and Strood
19. South Derbyshire
20. South East Cornwall
21. Stourbridge
22. Telford
23. Watford
24. Waveney
25. Winchester
26. Witham

Second tranche, phase one seats.

Second tranche of selecting seats

CCHQ has just sent Priority List candidates the names of the twenty seats in "the second tranche (phase 1)":

1. Battersea
2. Brigg and Goole
3. Bolton North East
4. Bolton West
5. Burton
6. Bury North
7. Cleethorpes
8. Corby
9. Dartford
10. Ealing Central and Acton
11. Great Yarmouth 
12. Mid Norfolk
13. Northampton North
14. North Cornwall
15. Sittingbourne and Sheppey
16. South Thanet      
17. Stevenage
18. Somerton and Frome
19. Stroud
20. Truro and Falmouth

The CCHQ email also states:

• The closing date for these applications is 2pm on 8th September.
• There will be further phases of selections in tranche two.  The phase two (2) advertisement will be sent on the 29th September and the advert for phase two (3) will be sent on 27th October.