In a post on WalesHome.org, Conservative Welsh Assembly Member for Cardiff North Jonathan Morgan has called for positive discrimination in favour of women candidates at the next Welsh Assembly election.
In echoing the position of Welsh Assembly Conservaitve leader, Nick Bourne, he also backs a move akin to that controversially used to rank the lists for the European Parliament elections - for which in some regions men who topped the regional ballot found themselves ranked lower than women who had won less support from members.
Mr Morgan writes:
"There is no doubt that our party has a poor record in its selection of women candidates. The Assembly group has been under-represented for far too long. In the elections in 2007, our current group was just 90 votes away from being an all male club. For a party that champions equality and wants to prove that it is in touch with the modern world, this is unacceptable. My party, at its grass roots, is dominated by active, enthusiastic and politically astute female members but, for whatever reason, not enough seek selection as candidates and few are adopted.
"While attitudes are slowly changing, there are still antediluvian tendencies within local associations and frankly the party simply cannot afford to wait for a Noachian conversion. We need to change the rules to ensure more female candidates are selected in first place.
"My personal preference as an initial move forward is for the first available slot on each regional list be offered to a female candidate. While there maybe some party members who will view this as a step too far, I feel we can no longer pursue a programme of positive affirmation just to increase the pool of would-be female candidates. We need to get them selected."
Needless to say, I beg to differ with such a proposal - as, I imagine, would most ConservativeHome readers.
Jonathan Isaby