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.
