ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

Nadhim Zahawi selected for Stratford-on-Avon

Tonight saw the final selection of the outstanding safe Conservative seats, in Stratford-on-Avon, where John Maples is standing down.

Nadhim Zahawi was selected from a field of six candidates after three ballots and inherits a notional Conservative majority of 10,928.

He is co-founder and CEO of YouGov and served as a Wandsworth councillor for twelve years between 1994 and 2006. I have also just discovered that, like me, he is an alumnus of King's College School, Wimbledon!

Read more about him on his website.

Nadhim is the seventh of the twenty top candidates profiled by Tim last September to win selections.

Jonathan Isaby

5pm Saturday: Nadhim Zahawi won on the third round of voting among the 220 attendees.

Shortlist for Stratford-on-Avon

The six finalists seeking to replace John Maples as Conservative candidate in Stratford-on-Avon are:

Lucy Allan - Website
Former - Chartered Accountant, Insolvent Business Expert with PriceWaterhouse, London followed by City career in investment management
Current: Portfolio of community and charity work, Non Executive Director Wandsworth NHS, takes occasional employment law cases pro bono
Political: Wandsworth Councillor 2006, former Association Deputy Chairman

Victoria Atkins - Website
Current - Criminal Barrister
Lots of political experience been involved in four General Elections
Daughter of Sir Robert Atkins MEP

Alice Barnard - Website
Former - Account Director and shareholder, Building on Business
Current - Regional Director of the Eastern Region, Countryside Alliance
Joined in 2007

Georgina Butler - Website
Former Ambassador with 35 years experience of government and international affairs; a civil servant who has resigned to join the Party's fight for change.
Member of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission

Philip Seccombe - Website
Former - Chestertons - Partner in London and Birmingham
Current - Seccombes, Chartered Surveyors, Founder and Senior Partner
Chairman of Stratford-on-Avon Association
Councillor on Stratford-on-Avon Council since 2002

Nadhim Zahawi - Website
Former - European Marketing Director, Smith and Brooks Ltd
Current - Co-founder and CEO of YouGov
PPC - Erith and Thamesmead 1997
Councillor in Wandsworth 1994 - 2006

The winning candidate will inherit what Rallings and Thrasher calcualte to be a notional majority of 10,928.

John Maples will play no role in the shortlisting of candidates under the by-election rules

ConservativeHome can reveal the procedure under which shortlists of candidates will be drawn up for the seats where sitting MPs have announced their retirement since January 1st - and it will not involve the controversial Deputy Chairman responsible for Candidates, John Maples.

Mr Maples staggered party the party at the beginning of the week by announcing his own retirement ten days after the so-called "by-election rules" kicked in - meaning that his own local association in Stratford-on-Avon will not be able to choose a shortlist of candidates to interview; rather, a list of names will be given to the association by CCHQ.

And the procedure by which those names will be drawn up will be as follows:

• Those on the candidates' list wanting to express their interest in a seat should do so in an email to Gareth Fox of the Candidates' Department, who will administer the process;
• Party Chairman Eric Pickles will conduct an initial sift;
• There will then be a meeting at which Eric Pickles, Patrick McLoughlin, the Opposition Chief Whip, and Jeremy Middleton, representing the voluntary party as chairman of the National Conservative Convention, will draw up the final shortlist for the association - no-one else will be involved in the process.

Speaking to ConservativeHome, Eric Pickles signalled that he is determined that names are matched as best as is possible with appropriate constituencies. He said:

"I intend to ensure that this system is as fair and as straightforward as I can make it. You will not see the same names in every seat."

He also indicated that as far as discussions with unselected candidates go, he now regards himself as in purdah.

Tim wrote back in October that he wanted to see the shortlists drawn up by Eric Pickles, and not John Maples. From the grassroots' point of view, it is also reassuring to see Jeremy Middleton involved in the process.

The only other seat apart from Stratford-on-Avon where we know that this new process will apply is Surrey East, where Peter Ainsworth announced his retirement a few days after the rules changed.

Jonathan Isaby

John Maples MP to retire

This story was subject to a midnight embargo but has already been broken by The Times.

Earlier today John Maples MP sent ConHome this letter:

"You may have seen the announcement of my intention to retire from the House of Commons at the next election and will no doubt want to cover this.   The fact that I have not been able to announce this until now, will mean that the Association will not be able to advertise the vacancy to the full Candidates List; however, I did not deliberately delay the announcement until the new year.

I had been thinking about this since the autumn, but wanted to await Sir T Legge’s report, which I hoped would clear me of the need to repay any of the expenses that I had claimed, as it did.   We had all expected him to report by mid October, but he did not do so until early December.   I then needed to tell David Cameron and arranged to see my Association Chairman to tell him on December 12th;  however, the previous day the Daily Telegraph published an article about the sale of my constituency home.   Had I announced my retirement the next day it would have been seen as at least linked to the article if not as a result of it.  I therefore felt I had no alternative but to wait a few weeks, which is what I did.

I am sure that you would want to be totally accurate in how you report my retirement and that what you say will fully reflect these facts."

Mr Maples' explanation of his delay is unacceptable. For the sake of not wanting to look as though The Telegraph had forced him out, he is content for his Association to lose the right to have a proper choice of all on the candidates list. Unbelievable. Does Mr Maples realise that 12th December was not the last day of 2009? He could have made his retirement announcement on 30th December, as John Gummer did. Now Stratford on Avon members will be subject to by-election procedures and have a choice of just three imposed candidates. If Mr Maples had resigned before the new year his local members would not have been disenfranchised in this way.

Since becoming Head of Candidates John Maples has disrespected grassroots Tory members at every turn (see here and here and especially here by way of example). As I've argued before, he must not have any say in the shortlisting process for his or other seats that will select on emergency shortlists of three.

Given that Mr Gummer, Ian Taylor and David Curry are all leaving the Commons, Mr Maples' departure means that Ken Clarke will be the only prominent EU enthusiast left in the Tory Parliamentary Party after the next election.  Tim Yeo is also widely rumoured to be leaving the Commons.

Download a PDF of Mr Maples' Letter to his Association.

Mr Maples becomes the second MP to quit since the start of the year. Peter Ainsworth was the first.

Stratford on Avon has a projected Tory majority of 11,059.

Tim Montgomerie