ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

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.

Henry Smith selected for Crawley

Last night Henry Smith was readopted as the candidate for Crawley last night. The three-way Lab-Con marginal has the narrowest majority in the country, with Labour's Laura Moffatt hanging on with just 37 votes in 2005.

Henry is leader of West Sussex County Council and fought the seat in 2001 and 2005.

Deputy Editor

Jane Ellison selected for Battersea

David Cameron gets a boost ahead of party conference with the selection of Jane Ellison as Tory candidate for the highly marginal south London seat of Battersea.  Dominic Schofield came within a whisker of winning the seat last year.  Since the A-list was introduced exactly one-third of candidates selected have been women.  Attitudes to the A-list are tested in this month's survey of grassroots Tory opinion.

8am postscript on 28th September: "There are some complaints - in the blogosphere and in my mailbox - that Jane Ellison was the most 'left-wing' candidate at last night's Battersea meeting and only won because non-Conservatives were able to vote  in the open primary method of selection.  I think these complainants are wrong to believe that ordinary voters should be excluded because they might vote for someone different from Tory activists.  That is the point of open primaries - to adopt a candidate with wider-than-usual appeal.  It's wrong to assume that open primaries will always lead to the election of a centrist or more left-wing candidate.  In many seats a candidate with strong local standing will have the advantage over 'outsiders'.  In other seats it will be a candidate with a strong message on immigration or fighting crime, for example, that will enthuse participants in the open primary.  Where, I think,  the complainants have a point is that there should be discouragement of people whose only intention is to subvert the process.  Open primary participants could be required to do one of two things.  They could be required to sign a declaration saying that they have voted Conservative at the last election or intend to vote Conservative at the next election.  Their other option could be to pay a nominal fee - of say £2.  The first option moves the Tory primary system closer to the US model and the second option to the system the Italian Left used to discourage Berlusconi supporters from disrupting their primary election.  Either requirement would discourage Labour or LibDem activists, for example, of disruptive tactics.  The cost of voting by txt in the Tory Mayoral Open Primary should protect the integrity of that process."

2pm update: Some commentators below have asked why Dominic Schofield didn't reapply to Battersea. Dominic is getting married at the end of the year (I'm going to his wedding!) and has decided to put his personal life and future wife before politics over the next few months. He still hopes to be a Tory candidate but his marriage must come first. Good on him, I say.

Three quarters of Conservative candidates are male

An CCHQ internal report conducted by Shireen Ritchie (Chairman of the Candidates Committee) and mistakenly sent to National Conservative Convention members as part of the Party Board's September report, provides some interesting statistics about the gender balance of Party candidates...

Full candidates list:

544 men (73%)
203 women (27%) 

Priority list: 

62 men (42%)
87 women (58%)

Awaiting Parliamentary Assessment Board (PAB):

341 men (73%)
126 women (27%)

The figures confirm the number of candidates on the Priority list to be 149 and that the second tranche, did indeed consist of "about 50" candidates.

The proportion of men to women between those seeking approval to be candidates, and those already approved is exactly the same.

The report also says that 96 people have enquired about becoming candidates in the last two months, although it doesn't reveal the balance of genders in this group.

In related news, the Board are about to appoint a Deputy Chairman with responsibility for candidates and Don Porter, Chairman of the Convention, is to head a review of the candidacy process. The review will be conducted by Cllr Derek Tipp, Mike Baker and John Strafford, and will canvass the views of Regional Chairmen.

Deputy Editor

Battersea selection tonight

There is an open primary, hosted by Michael Portillo, to select Battersea's parliamentary candidate tonight. The seat is a Lab/Con marginal with the Conservatives needing just 163 votes to oust Martin Linton MP.

The four candidates are all A-listers: Louise Bagshawe, James Cleverly, Jane Ellison and Sam Gyimah.

Deputy Editor

Esther McVey readopted for Wirral West

Esther McVey was readopted as the Tory candidate for Wirral West last night.  A Special General Meeting of nearly 200 local party members endorsed the candidate who reduced the Labour majority from 4,035 to 1,097  at last year's General Election.  If the boundary changes due for next time had been in place in 2005 Esther McVey would have won with an estimated majority of  283 (see Anthony Wells' guide to boundary changes).

LibDems promise extra funds for female candidates

The LibDems are choosing their own path to increase the number of women and ethnic minority candidates.  Rather than the quota-based A-list approach, championed by David Cameron, Ming Campbell has decided upon bribery ...a package of financial inducements.

Targets seats that choose women or ethnic minority will receive extra financial support from a Diversity Fund.  The LibDems hope to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for this purpose and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust has already pledged £200,000.

Of the LibDems' 63 MPs, nine are women but none are from an ethnic minority.

Richard Fuller selected

Local community campaigner Richard Fuller has been selected to fight Bedford & Kempston at the next election. Speaking after the selection meeting he said:

"I am delighted to have been selected and look forward to continue working with local residents and community groups in the interest of our town. I will continue to be a strong voice for our community, championing positive results for the people of our town."

Richard, who isn't on the priority list, fought Bedford in 2005 and his big issue is fighting the closure of its hospital.

Deputy Editor

Fourteen more A-listers

Fourteen more A-listers are named by ConservativeHome this morning:

1. Lucy Allan (Wandsworth councillor)
2. Fiona Bulmer (Normanton 1997 and Barnet councillor)
3. Elizabeth Campbell (Gateshead East and Washington West 2001 and K&C councillor)
4. Antonia Cox (Evening Standard leader writer and former investment banker)
5. Margaret Doyle (Westminster councillor and journalist)
6. Joanna Gardner (South Shields 2001 and K&C councillor)
7. Samantha George (Sheffield Central 2005 and Merton councillor)
8. Mimi Harker (West Bromwich West 2005 and Chiltern district councillor)
9. Martin Howe (QC and eurosceptic nephew of Sir Geoffrey Howe)
10. Sheila Lawlor (Director of Politeia)
11. Jessica Learmond-Criqui (Trinidad-born, Hampstead-based employment lawyer)
12. Jonathan Lehrle (Redcar 2005 and ex-chief of staff to Michael Ancram)
13. Mary Macleod (Ross, Skye and Lochaber 1997, Deputy Chairman K&C Tories and Candidates Association Chairman)
14. Mary Weale (K&C councillor).

They have come to light as they have been applying for second tranche seats.

They will be added to the A-list top-up list later today.

Lorraine Fullbrook joins W2W team

Women 2 Win have appointed Lorraine Fullbrook as their Executive Director. Lorraine was one of the 20 candidates to be fast-tracked to a consituency - Ribble South - and will be spending three days a week on W2W.

Deputy Editor

It's tough to get on the A list

For a white male anyway, but can he hack it?

All-women shortlists would bring in the big man

Interesting anecdote in the Telegraph's Spy column today. Apparently John Maples MP suggested to Battersea Conservatives that they should consider voluntarily choosing an all-woman shortlist:

"He pointed out that if we did so, then David Cameron would be sure to pay us lots of visits. At that point, his pleading became rather half-hearted as he – jokingly, I hope – offered us sweets in return for going down that route."

All-women shortlists are the only route available to Associations who want to retain their usual selection procedure of having a members vote, although until now there hasn't been any indication that the Party would encourage their use.

Deputy Editor

Mohammed Abdel-Haq is a credit to the A-list

Earlier this week we spotlighted CCHQ's controversial decision to put a recent Labour-to-Tory defector on to the party's A-list.  The response from the overwhelming majority of ConservativeHome visitors was predictably furious.

We can report much better news this morning.  Mohammed Abdel-Haq has been appointed to the A-list (along with naming Paul Uppal this morning, 32 second wave A-listers have now been identified by this blog).

I should declare that Mohammed is a friend.  He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Centre for Social Justice since its beginning and was Chairman of the CSJ's 2006 Awards Panel.  This is a key part of why he will help the party to diversify - not just because he is a British Muslim but also because he wants the party to have a heart for the most vulnerable people in Britain and overseas.  Mohammed is a trenchant critic of human rights abuses in Muslim countries and of the failure of many British Muslims to integrate.  A successful banker himself he joined the Conservative Party in the mid-1990s when it was not the fashionable thing to do.  He believes in small government, strong families, personal responsibility and the primacy of the nation state.  He fought Swansea West at the last General Election.

CCHQ's continuing attempts to hide membership of the A-list raises suspicions that the list will not easily withstand scrutiny.  The fact that people of the calibre of Mohammed Abdel-Haq are on the A-list should remind all of us, however, that it does include many very good men and women.

Andrew Stephenson has been selected for Pendle

A-lister Andrew Stephenson's selection is the final selection before David Cameron's new selection rules come into force.  Since the A-list was introduced 24 candidates have been selected.  30.4% of those candidates were women and 54.2% were A-listers.

Labour held Pendle with a majority of 2,180 at the last General Election.

Andrew recently wrote this article on how 'Conservative Future is revitalising local government'.

Jeremy Lefroy...

...what a great addition he'll make to the parliamentary party if he wins his election battle.

Read this for why.

(Jeremy was recently selected for Stafford).

CCHQ uses A-list to encourage more defections to Tories

ConservativeHome reveals four more names this morning on the A-list top-up.  Thirty names have now been identified of a top-up of approximately fifty.  It's taking us longer than last time but we will get there - not least when our contacts in the next tranche of selecting Associations start receiving applications from those on the Priority List... One of the new four names is the most controversial yet... Rehman Chishti.

Mr Chishti was the Labour candidate for Horsham at the last General Election - flying the Labour colours against Francis Maude.  But on 14th March 2006 he defected to the Conservatives.  A thrilled CCHQ made 'Chishti The Movie' and Francis Maude installed the convert as his adviser on diversity and ethnic minorities.

Mr Chishti hasn't been a Tory member for six months but has already been promoted to the A-list.  CCHQ must have taken the decision in full knowledge that the elevation would enrage long-standing Tories who have given years of service to the party but have been denied A-list status.   Still obsessively studying the New Labour playbook, Central Office are determined to show all potential defectors that the Conservative Party will make it worthwhile to 'cross the floor'.

ConservativeHome has limited knowledge of Rehman Chishti and he may thoroughly deserve his A-list status but one of his reasons for leaving Labour - Tony Blair's failure to secure UN approval for the Iraq campaign - suggests a leftish faith in the wisdom of multilateral institutions.