A short history of the A-list

(1) CCHQ are due to send out another set of letters today - telling candidates whether or not they have got on to the A-list.  There will be delight in some houses and disappointment in many others.  The delight won't be as great, nor the disappointment as deep, however, as greeted the first set of A-list letters.  At the time of the list's launch there was a common - if misplaced - expectation that A-list status was a fast-track to a decent seat.  Although it's still relatively early days for what CCHQ calls the Priority List, membership is no longer regarded so highly... This ten point briefing overviews the list's short history.

(2) David Cameron talked of introducing an A-list when he was running for the Tory leadership although the talk did not feature very prominently.  The idea of such a 50/50 list never appealed to Tory activists from the start, however.  A ConservativeHome poll found that only 35% supported it.  71% of Tory members, in contrast, wanted more local candidates in the most marginal seats.  A subsequent analysis - by David Burrowes MP - of the seats where the Tory swing was double the national average appeared to confirm the instincts of Tory activists.  Local people who were selected early appeared to be the biggest vote gatherers, David Burrowes concluded.

(3) The need to increase the number of women MPs was clear - the question was 'how'.  David Cameron, writing for ConservativeHome, declared it "a total scandal that less than 10% of the Parliamentary Conservative Party is female."  "At the last election," he continued, "we had a list of 25 per cent women.  Despite a real effort, we only got 19 per cent of target and Conservative-held seats to select women.  Worse still, only 12 per cent of the new in-take were women."  It was clear, Mr Cameron concluded, that the previous candidate selection process was discriminatory to women and needed to be overhauled.

(4) Mr Cameron chose the A-list as his mechanism to "make the Conservative Party more representative of the country we seek to govern."  But the A-list's understanding of representativeness disappointed some observers.  Slightly more than half of David Cameron's first tranche of A-listers were women and at least 10% were from ethnic minorities but where were the northerners, the state-educated and those with public sector experience?  The Times found that just five A-listers had pursued careers in the public sector [The Times headlined it as six but only after confusing CCHQ with GCHQ!].  To some the A-list appeared face deep.  To Davis-ites the list appeared stuffed with Cameroons.  One blogger calculated - rather crudely - that it was full of people who had underperformed at previous elections.

(5) An analysis of the A-list's composition was possible because of ConservativeHome's decision to publish what CCHQ had hoped to keep secret.  William Rees-Mogg described ConservativeHome's exclusive as the first time "a big political story in Britain has been created on the web rather than in the press."  Here is the list of 101 names we published.  Our reasons for publishing the list were explained here.  We said: "These candidates, and the A-list top-ups to follow, are the people who will form a third to a half of the Conservative parliamentary party if we are successful in winning power after the next General Election.  Conservative members - kept in the dark about so many aspects of how their party is run, funded and staffed - have a right to inspect this list and assess its quality and true diversity."  As it happens, of course, the A-list looks unlikely to determine a third to a half of the parliamentary party...

(6) At the time of writing this briefing only 10 A-listers have actually been selected.  In the selections that have taken place so far, 10 of 19 seats have chosen A-listers.  Although it was originally suggested that local candidates could only be chosen in extreme circumstances, the A-list process has actually seen more local-ish candidates adopted (47.3%) than women (31.7%).  The CCHQ 'first tranche target' for women was actually 57.1% according to a memo leaked to ConservativeHome back in April.  With the list now expanding markedly the proportion of A-listers should increase but it has not proven to be the fast-track to a safe seat that many had hoped.

(7) ConservativeHome's successful publication of the A-list was not the only difficult early moment for David Cameron's flagship.  A-listers turned their backs on the more difficult seats - particularly those with LibDem incumbents.  It quickly became clear that a number of the 35 seats selected by CCHQ for the first round of selections had not been properly consulted.  A number like Telford and Truro and Falmouth made it clear that they wanted to include local people in their shortlists.  Francis Maude and Bernard Jenkin decided to avoid a clash with local associations and adopted a flexible approach.  The Party Chairman famously told ToryRadio that he had no wish to impose "mincing meterosexuals" on "gritty northern seats".

(8) The whole process might have worked better if the Tory leadership had avoided the fanfare of a formulaic A-list.  CCHQ had been managing the local selection process for years - passing some CVs to local associations and not to others.  The new leadership might have avoided some of the recent political heartache if it had maintained this process but had simply managed it more assertively - particularly in the interests of women.

(9) Where the A-list has been successful is in the candidates that have been picked from it.  Harriett Baldwin, Karen Bradley and Andrea Leadsom are, in particular, all compassionate, down-to-earth and highly capable Conservatives.  They will enrich the Conservative benches for years to come if they, as would be expected, win their seats.  The first A-lister to be selected - Mel Stride in Devon Central - is also a stand-out candidate.  A hugely successful businessman, he has a passionate commitment to social enterprise.

(10) What next?  We'll know more about the first A-list top-up over coming days.  We'll know if it has retained the 50/50 balance and whether CCHQ has succeeded in headhunting more people from Britain's regions or from public sector backgrounds.  ConservativeHome will be publishing an analysis of the costs of being a candidate at 12.01am tomorrow as part of our drive to make the party more open to lower income candidates.  CCHQ's main concern is likely to continue to be female representation, however.  If more women are not adopted in the next few months the party leadership has reserved the right to take further measures.  Flexible implementation of the A-list may not last if the proportion of women selected fails to rise much above the 33% level.

Comments

[wozza]

Lets hope nobody who has recently been made redundant from CCO appears on it.

That would give the appearance that deals are being made at the top - despite denials - and that the list isn't very worthy or meritocratic at all.

[Derek]

I would be amazed if any "further measures" were taken, whatever the results of selection produce. David Cameron and Francis Maude have gone as far as they dare, in my opinion. The public are not in the least interested in the manipulation of our candidate selection, nor in the number of women MPs.

[Andrea]

How big will the top up be?

[Hannibal]

Are you publishing the names on the top up list too?

[Westminster Tory]

Around 200 or so tealented, white, male, heterosexual candidates will finally recognise that their careers are over.

Do you honestly think that they will accept that wimmin2win cabal that runs the candidates committee has ruined their chances of getting a safe or winnable seats?

[Editor]

I don't know, Andrea, although I've heard the top-up may be 85.

Yes as I receive them, Hannibal, but I'm not going to search them out in the way I did last time. For all of the reasons given in my briefing - the A-list seems so much less important than it did two, three months ago.

[James Maskell]

Bearing in mind that one of the key people in Women2Win is married to the person in charge of candidate selection in the Party, the most recent poster is pretty much on the money.

As for Derek, Im praying to the heavens that an Association refuses to tow the line here. I think every Association should do as they please...its their constituencies up for grabs and they are the ones having to work their asses off year in year out (despite what Marland thinks about the voluntary Party). Might as well let them have a free hand with who to be their front person.

[Andrea]

"I don't know, Andrea, although I've heard the top-up may be 85"

Thanks, Mr Editor

[Sophie Hamilton]

To Westminster Tory - why should white male hetrosexual tories have a monopoly and a preserve on careers in politics? Is it truly democratic for the Party to be represented 91% male MPs? Do you really believe that there are not equal numbers of educated articulate career orientated women? Is that really not your experience in the workplace? Or maybe you work in Westminster? That is not the real world. Women in the real world are educated, intelligent and articulate and make excellent MPs and Councillors and business people. Thank you CCHQ for recognising that it is not just white men that can have careers with influence, power and authority - and what about the generations of women that have been denied these opportunties. Westminster Tory did you know that that the UK is 51st in the world in terms of female representation? Did you know that this is solely due to the efforts of the Labour Party otherwise we would fall off the bottom of the scale? Do you really not know of intelligent able women who are on merit as good as men in all areas of the workplace? I am amazed that in today's world men really feel so resentful at the prospect of equalilty? We all believe in meritocracy in the Conservative Party and we all believe in a level playing field. Westminster Tory are you really a Tory and do you really expect women to vote for you or a party that shares your perspective? Thank goodness for David Cameron who is seeking to rescue the party from people who hold the views you hold. It would be enough to make me vote for any other party if I thought the party espoused your views. We believe in freedom, enterprise and and opportuntity for all - note the word all - not just white middle class men.

[Sophie Hamilton]

To Westminster Tory - why should white male hetrosexual tories have a monopoly and a preserve on careers in politics? Is it truly democratic for the Party to be represented 91% male MPs? Do you really believe that there are not equal numbers of educated articulate career orientated women? Is that really not your experience in the workplace? Or maybe you work in Westminster? That is not the real world. Women in the real world are educated, intelligent and articulate and make excellent MPs and Councillors and business people. Thank you CCHQ for recognising that it is not just white men that can have careers with influence, power and authority - and what about the generations of women that have been denied these opportunties. Westminster Tory did you know that that the UK is 51st in the world in terms of female representation? Did you know that this is solely due to the efforts of the Labour Party otherwise we would fall off the bottom of the scale? Do you really not know of intelligent able women who are on merit as good as men in all areas of the workplace? I am amazed that in today's world men really feel so resentful at the prospect of equalilty? We all believe in meritocracy in the Conservative Party and we all believe in a level playing field. Westminster Tory are you really a Tory and do you really expect women to vote for you or a party that shares your perspective? Thank goodness for David Cameron who is seeking to rescue the party from people who hold the views you hold. It would be enough to make me vote for any other party if I thought the party espoused your views. We believe in freedom, enterprise and and opportuntity for all - note the word all - not just white middle class men.

[Conservative-man]

Sophie

In the first tranche of the A list, 80% of the women who applied, got through, about 20% of the men did. Either the selection procedure was biased, or for some reason we had for more talented female than male candidates - this seems unlikely.

Of course women are talented, but equally, for whatever reason, many talented women have not chosen to go into politics. To suggest positive discrimination to correct the situation is for many meritocratic Conservatives an affront to their political philosophies.