'B-listers' may not have received a letter from CCHQ this week but Bernard Jenkin and Shireen Ritchie did write to those A-listers who had not applied for many seats (see The Sunday Telegraph). This was the text of the letter:
"We are sorry to have to write to point out that you did not apply for many seats in the first tranche of selections. Being a priority candidate is a privilege which carries obligations. In the letter appointing you as a priority candidate, we made it clear that priority candidates do have a responsibility to apply for as many seats as possible. We said in our letter on your appointment that priority candidates who fail to demonstrate commitment or who fail to apply for suitable seats without giving good reason may regrettably have to be removed as a priority candidate. Therefore we would appreciate it if you could inform us that you will apply for a good number of seats in the next tranche, or whether an impediment exists to your applying for these key seats.
If you would like to come and see either of us or Gareth Fox to discuss seat selections, then please do get in touch.
We look forward to hearing from you soon."
Some A-listers - Zac Goldsmith and Nick Boles - are understood to have failed to apply for any of the first 35 selecting seats. The initial letter of appointment to the A-list warned that status did "involve an immediate commitment on your part to apply for as many of the winnable seats as you feel able". This failure of A-listers to apply for any or 'enough' seats contributed to the decision of some seats to postpone selections because of lack of applicants.
Some A-listers have spoken to ConservativeHome in recent days and believe that the letters reflect unrealistic expectations of candidates. These A-listers have applied for only two or three seats but (a) do not want to apply for faraway seats and (b) cannot afford to apply for any more than one or two seats each month. This expectation of A-listers fits into ConservativeHome's 'cost of being a candidates' analysis - published to wide acclaim earlier this week.
