John Maples MP is Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for candidate selection.
The selection of more women candidates and the election of more women MPs have been stated objectives of the Party for several years. Overall we are pleased that nearly 30% of selected candidates are women. If we win the next election, there will be around 60 Conservative women MPs, compared with 18 currently. This will be a great improvement.
Up until the summer, in Conservative held seats, 10 women (37%) had been selected and 17 men (62%). Since then there have been 5 selections under the old process and 3 under the new procedure (with shortlists of 6 candidates, half men and half women). All 8 selections have produced male candidates. The only woman selected has been Sarah Wollaston, in the all postal primary in Totnes. This trend is not acceptable.
We will continue to use the new procedure until the end of the year and we are currently aware of 12 Conservative held seats that will select by this method. This will mean that 21 such seats will have selected over the last six months of 2009. After January 1st we will use our by-election procedure, under which the Party Chairman, after consultation with Association officers and others, gives the Association a shortlist of 3-6 candidates to go to a general meeting of members.
What David Cameron said to the Speakers Conference was “…if any MP stands down either shortly before or after that date (January 1st), the central Party provides the shortlist to the Association, and it is my intention, if we continue as we are, that some of those shortlists will indeed be all women shortlists, to help us boost the number of Conservative women MPs…”
We have avoided using all women shortlists so far and had hoped to continue to do so, but we cannot let the current trend continue.
