The graphic (clockwise from top left): Priti Patel, Shaun Bailey, Debi Jones, Louise Bagshawe, Zac Goldsmith, Philippa Stroud.
ConservativeHome has never supported the Alist and is glad to have played a part in exposing its superficiality and to have played a part in its recent downfall. There was something fundamentally unconservative about a quota-based system that was based on skin colour and gender.
What is beyond doubt, however, is that the wider candidate selection process that is underway is seeing Conservative Associations routinely adopt candidates of the highest quality. That happened last night in Hammersmith when local Conservatives chose Shaun Bailey as their candidate. There is nothing tokenistic about this black candidate. He would deserve to prosper in any selection process. He has already done enormous good as a charity youthworker and has become an insightful media commentator on the damage caused by Labour welfare policies. The Centre for Policy Studies and John Nash deserve particular credit for bringing his perspectives to national attention. Interviewed for ConservativeHome on Tuesday, Shaun said:
"I work in a sector where the sad realities of socialist policies are revealed. Our young people are exposed to drugs and pornography and the liberal elite promote policies that are crushing the poor. Labour’s policies have created a dependency culture and all the people I know who have done badly are products of the dependency culture."
With Shaun and Philippa Stroud as our PPC for Sutton and Cheam the Conservative Party has two formidable ambassadors for the 'modern compassionate conservatism' that David Cameron has undertaken to champion. Philippa, Director of Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice, has devoted her life to caring for some of society's most underprivileged people and, like Shaun, is now bringing all that she has learnt into the political sphere. Jeremy Lefroy, our Stafford candidate, is another standout example of this phenomenon - a man deeply involved in, and understanding of, international development.
Priti Patel is set to be the party's first female Asian MP. She also holds views that will delight traditional conservatives. Best-selling writer Louise Bagshawe has overcome all the jibes she faced as the celebrity face of the Alist. Now our candidate in Corby she has got off to a flying start with a campaign that has exposed a politically-correct decision that took many jobs from her adopted constituency to Leicester.
Elsewhere we are selecting candidates who are perfectly-pitched for their local communities. I think particularly of Karen Bradley in Staffordshire Moorlands, Philip Milton in Devon North and Deborah Dunleavy in Bolton North East. Cllr Debi Jones in Sefton Central (formerly Crosby) is a charismatic former flagship presenter on Radio Merseyside who is heavily involved in local charity work.
None of this is to say that these candidates are perfect. From my point of view, Zac Goldsmith's views on nuclear power are worrying and Shaun Bailey's misplaced faith in the United Nations is something I hope he'll soon abandon. But the overall impression of the candidates I'm getting to meet and hear about is overwhelmingly positive. They are candidates we can be proud of.
