Bracknell Tories meet on Friday to choose which members of a shortlist drawn up at CCHQ go to an open primary selection meeting on 17 October.
Local council leader Paul Bettison is unhappy at his failure to get through the shortlist process, however, and ConservativeHome has learnt that colleagues of his on Bracknell Forest Council will attempt to add his name to the list of contenders at Friday's meeting.
They are unlikely to be successful. Rules do not permit a selective editing of the shortlist. Only if the Association held a vote of "no confidence" in the whole process would Cllr Bettison have a chance of being put forward as a possible candidate.
Jonathan Isaby reported two months ago that CCHQ were using a new shortlist process for the plum seats that will select between now and the next General Election. Six members of a local Association - chosen by an Association's Executive - attend a meeting a CCHQ and sift the full list of applicants for the seat. The meeting is attended by three or four CCHQ staffers and they advise on the shortlisting process but do not have a decisive say. One participant in this process did report to ConHome, however, that John Maples MP was "heavily promoting" some candidates over others. Another participant described the involvement of CCHQ as "light touch, entirely advisory and 100% helpful".
Tim Montgomerie
