ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Jeremy Middleton: The new selection guidelines maintain the basic principle that local Associations pick the shortlist of candidates and remain in control of the selection process

Jeremy Middleton is chairman of the National Conservative Convention and responds here to concerns that new candidate selection procedures represent an unprecedented centralisation of power.

Last week you reported the agreement by the Board to new selection guidelines for the rest of this Parliament. The article, together with the comments, suggests a power grab by CCHQ and the imposition of candidates on Associations: a ‘slam dunk’ for the centralisers of power and one in the eye for localism! I don’t think this is what has happened and would like to offer some balance to your readers.

These are exceptional times leading to exceptional pressures on candidate selection.  Under normal circumstances all our candidates could, and should, have been selected by now.  However, the saga of MPs' expenses and David Cameron’s subsequent decision to re-open the Candidates' List means that this has not happened.

There are already 15 Conservative held seats that need to be selected as soon as possible and we can expect more – perhaps up to 30 in total.  Clearly these need to be selected as soon as possible and certainly by the end of the year.

However, at the same time the Candidates' Department are under intense pressure, having to run a parliamentary assessment board nearly every week in order to give the thousands of new applicants both a reasonable prospect of joining the Candidates' List and to ensure that they meet the same standards required of everybody who is already on the list.  The Board agreed to increase resources to the Candidates' Department but even so, some curtailment to the standard selection procedure was necessary if all these selections are to be completed by the end of the year.

Hartlepool Conservatives select Alan Wright to take on Labour MP Iain Wright

In a move that will see him immediately above the sitting Labour MP Iain Wright on the ballot paper, Alan Wright was chosen by Hartlepool Conservatives on Wednesday night to contest the seat formerly held by Peter Mandelson.

62-year-old Alan is not only Hartlepool born-and-bred, but he already has a high local media profile as a former presenter on BBC local radio in the area and as a columnist in the Hartlepool Mail. He now runs his own media consultancy business.

He said on his selection:

"It is an honour and a privilege to be selected to seek the position of MP in my home town... I fervently believe that Hartlepool needs a change to give all of its people the best chances in life.

"There is a bigger Conservative tradition in Hartlepool than many people realise. Our very first MP, Ralph Ward Jackson, was a Conservative and I remember growing up when Commander John Kerans filled the post from 1959 to 1964.

"This will be the first time I have ever stood for political office, though my long years in the media and on public bodies have given me a sharp understanding of what works and what doesn't. I know Hartlepool very well and I'm proud to say that Hartlepool knows me.

"The General Election gives the town a real choice between stagnation and a new start with a Conservative government and a Conservative MP who can make a big difference."

He starts in third place with 11.5% of the vote, with Iain Wright currently enjoying a Labour majority of 7,478 over the Liberal Democrats.

Jonathan Isaby

Eric Pickles is bullish about the party's chances of "love-bombing" the Liberal Democrats out of swathes of the West Country

I have blogged before about how crucial it is that the Conservatives win a fair number of seats from the Liberal Democrats if David Cameron is to attain a simple majority in the Commons, let alone a robust one.

And no region has a bigger concentration of Liberal Democrat MPs than the South West, where seats held by the Lib Dems account for no fewer than 10% of the seats on the Conservative Party's national top 120 target list, which are as follows (NB some are newly created seats notionally held by the Lib Dems):

6. Cheltenham
11. Somerton and Frome
29. Taunton Deane
43. Chippenham
57. Torbay
63. Cornwall North
86. Truro and Falmouth
97. Camborne and Redruth
101. Newton Abbot
102. Devon North
112. Cornwall South East
119. St Austell and Newquay 

So it is good to read this piece by Michael Savage in this morning's Independent, which shows how seriously the party is taking the campaign against the Lib Dems in the region.

Of course, the most recent county council election results across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall all give cause for Conservatives to be in good heart in these counties - and Savage reports that the Conservatives "surprised themselves with the extent of their progress" at the May elections.

However, Lib Dem MPs - without the burden of being in government or anywhere near it - are able to distance themselves from policy decisions on national issues and concentrate on being glorified social workers in their constituencies.

Richard Harrington: How the Watford Conservatives' innovative summer work experience programme has been mutually beneficial both for my campaign and for more than fifty local youngsters

Richard is PPC for Watford and explains here the mutual benefits of the innovative work experience programme he has introduced this summer for 16-23 year olds in the constituency.

When I began campaigning in Watford this year, it became clear to me that young volunteers in all the political parties were few and far between. The County Council and European election Campaigns were driven almost exclusively by middle aged and elderly people. I place myself very firmly in these categories.  My 19 year old son pointed out that young people were not interested in Branches, Committees, Associations and all the paraphernalia of our activities at a local level. I agreed, but argued that politics could and should be something that young people consider to be both important and exciting.

Together with our Campaign Manager Peter Ganney, a pre-geriatric 26 year old, we decided to put together an organised work experience scheme over the summer holidays for 16 to 23 year olds. The plan was to make it fun, informative and good for the students’ CVs, but useful to us politically in helping us canvass the constituency, get people to put up posters at elections, and hopefully bring some youthful energy into future campaigns.

We placed an ad in the local paper and did some leafleting in the high street, but recruited most of the youngsters from direct mail and follow up. Using the electoral register and our recent canvass returns, we identified all 18-23 year olds living in Conservative households. We then hand delivered 400 letters with leaflets to them. A banging on the door follow-up produced most of the volunteers.  There were more than 50 of them.

Dr Sarah Wollaston selected after 25% turnout in Totnes Open Primary

The turnout in the all-postal Open Primary to select a new Conservative candidate in Totnes is 25% according to sources at the count.

This is way in excess of the 15% which Eric Pickles told me anything above which would be "quite a triumph".

"I'm tickled to death by the turnout," said the party chairman. "It just shows if you trust the folks, they will embrace the democratic process."

I'll post the result as soon as we have it.

12.50pm RESULT: Dr Sarah Wollaston selected as PPC for Totnes

The figures have just been announced as follows:

Sarah Wollaston - 7,914
Sara Randall Johnson - 5,495
Nick Bye - 3,088

(There were 73 spoilt papers and 69 which failed to include the declaration of identity)

There is a good profile of Sarah Wollaston, a 47-year old GP and mother-of-three, on the website of the local paper, the Herald Express.

Update:

After the result was announced, Eric Pickles made the following statement:

"This has been a great success for democracy. Today's turnout exceeded my wildest expectations and just shows that if you trust the people they embrace democracy. I believe  Sarah Wollaston will be an excellent candidate championing the interests of the people of Totnes. I hope Totnes represents a new type of politics, which rejects negative campaigning, and sees openness as a way to restore confidence in public life. I hope over time that the primary process becomes a permanent fixture in British Politics."

I have written a short personal reflection in praise of the Open Primary process here on CentreRight.

Jonathan Isaby

It's another week of campaigning for Nigel Huddleston in Luton South as Esther Rantzen announces her intention to contest the seat

Each week a different PPC provides us with an insight into life as a candidate and gives us a flavour of their own campaign and interests. If you are a candidate and are keen to be featured, please email Jonathan Isaby.

This week’s diary is written by Nigel Huddleston, who has been candidate since November 2007 for Luton South, a seat where he has to overturn a notional Labour majority of 5,698. Nigel says that it is the most reliable bellwether seat in the country, with the winning party going on to form the government in every election since 1951.  Mired in the expenses scandal, sitting Labour MP Margaret Moran has announced she will be standing down at the next election and Labour are in the process of selecting a replacement while Moran remains on sick leave - although rumours persist that she may yet stand down and trigger a by-election. Meanwhile, just last week Esther Rantzen has indicated her intention to stand in the seat as an independent. If you would like to help Nigel's campaign or just want to stay updated on how things are going, please email him or sign up to his mailing list via his website.

Saturday July 25th
The fun part of politics. Attending a local village day with the family (Luton South covers part of rural south Bedfordshire as well as the town).  Bouncy castles, hook a duck, raffles and Pimms!  Local community coming together, having fun and raising £4,000 for good causes.  Sun shone, kids enjoyed it… A good day all round.

Cllr Ruth Gammons informs me of increasing concern about a proposed nearby housing development.  She suggests we begin a campaign similar to the successful one to protect the green belt to the east of Luton from unwanted, central government imposed development.  Our policy of scrapping regional spatial strategies and putting development decisions back in control of local authorities is striking a chord with voters.

Eric Pickles expects SEVENTEEN more Tory MPs to step down

The Guardian's Andrew Sparrow is reporting that Eric Pickles has said that "in total we might be looking at 30-ish Conservative-held seats [becoming vacant] before the general election".  Thirteen plum Tory-held seats are currently looking for candidates and so that makes 17 more retirements.  The first of the thirteen - Totnes - announces its choice to succeed Anthony Steen tomorrow.

In today's Independent on Sunday the Conservative Party Chairman defended the constituency-wide ballot to choose the Totnes candidate and hoped to repeat the open primary method in future selections.  Last week Jonathan Isaby revealed Mr Pickles' controversial attempt to centralise shortlisting of candidates.

Thirty is beyond the top end of ConHome's estimate.  This is what I wrote last week within a post about Julie Kirkbride (who, I understand, will almost certainly NOT be seeking re-election):

"Some MPs have made the decision to go but want to put some months between their announcement and expenses-gate so that they can enjoy a "clean resignation".  Others are undecided and, almost inevitably, some MPs won't make a final decision until the very last moment.  We'll probably get to 20 to 25 resignations by General Election time."

That's 20 to 25 in total - ie about a dozen more at most.

Tim Montgomerie

Conservative grassroots reject CCHQ's quotas

ConservativeHome's end-July poll of Tory grassroots members finds almost no support for CCHQ's insistence that Conservative Associations choose fropm candidate shortlists that include 50% men and 50% women,  We asked the question after CCHQ cancelled Dudley North's selection process because the local association had said a 50%/50% rule did not make sense after it had received 36 applications from men and just eight from women.

ConHome asked Tory members if they agreed that "Local Conservative Associations should be free to choose from candidate shortlists that are not 50% men and 50% women."  91% agreed and just 6% disagreed.

In today's Sunday Times Harriet Harman says that one of Labour’s two top posts should always be held by a woman.  Will the Conservative Party end up in such a position on day?  David Cameron has already pledged to aspire to one third of ministers in a Tory government being women.

Tim Montgomerie