ConHome was very grateful for Tuesday's clarification of the party's position on All Women Shortlists.
David Cameron's suggestion that merit and not gender will be the over-riding criteria for the drawing up of shortlists satisfies us that we are likely to have some All Women Shortlists but that those Shortlists will not be automatically 'all women' but will be 'all women' from study of candidates' qualities. As I wrote at the time I'm perfectly ready to accept that a list that included, for example, Fiona Bruce, Chris Emmett and Julia Manning is of AAA quality and should satisfy any Conservative Association (except perhaps SW Norfolk!).
My one final request is that Eric Pickles is in charge of the drawing up of these shortlists rather than John Maples. Mr Maples is ideologically in favour of AWS and after his insulting article of last week I don't think he has the trust of grassroots members.
In an ideal world, of course, Conservative Associations will still have the freedom to draw up their own shortlists and that is why it is important that MPs who intend to retire announce soon so that Associations do not have CCHQ shortlists imposed upon them. Jonathan Isaby's letter to MPs encouraging early announcement features in this morning's Independent.
Tim Montgomerie