ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Look out for a five pronged affirmation of "new Toryism"

When The Times described David Cameron's Conservative team as "women-free" I called it "unfair".  CCHQ went ballistic - seeing it as a dangerous attack on the modernisation agenda.  Team Cameron believes that the Tory leader couldn't have worked much harder to promote women into the shadow cabinet, into the House of Lords, into winnable Westminster seats and into the European Parliament.  Rules for selection of MEP candidates were actually changed so that women won higher rankings on regional lists even if they secured fewer votes from grassroots members*.

David Cameron wrote for The Times yesterday, setting out the progress that he's made in increasing representation of women.

In tomorrow's Times a huge number of Tory women - led by our adopted candidates - have written a letter defending David Cameron's record on female selection.

A member of the shadow cabinet told me to look out for five things in the next few months that Team Cameron would be emphasing to show that "new Toryism" is still alive and kicking - despite the "age of austerity":

1. Further promotion of women and ethnic minority Conservatives.
2. Outreach to gay rights groups (yesterday we learnt this).
3. More emphasis on environmental policies.  At Spring Forum in Cheltenham Greg Clark MP promised to make Britain the "Saudi Arabia of renewable energy."
4. Loud trumpeting of the fact that the NHS and international development are the top two Tory spending priorities.
5. More initiatives on social justice with a greater role for Iain Duncan Smith.

Tim Montgomerie

* Most women in top MEP slots received fewer votes than male rivals

The Times launches unfair attack on David Cameron's attempts to promote women

The Times launches a strong attack on David Cameron's alleged failure to change the "male-dominated" Conservative Party this morning.  "Women take a back seat in Cameron's Tory Party" is the main front page splash.  A leader on page 2 says "David Cameron needs to do more to promote Conservative women."  A two page spread on pages 16 and 17 explains "How Cameron's conference stage has become a women-free zone."  The story is illustrated with a cleverly cropped photograph from Cheltenham with David Cameron surrounded by men on the conference stage.  While it's true that the shadow cabinet is male-dominated The Times is misleading readers in using expressions like "women free".  As Jonathan Isaby's photo below shows there were four women on stage with David Cameron in Cheltenham: Cheryl Gillan, Theresa May, Theresa Villiers (obscured but just sat behind William Hague) and Caroline Spelman.

I do not want to pretend that David Cameron has completely transformed female representation in the Conservative Party but The Times is being unfair to him.  If the Tories win a majority at the next election there'll be 50 to 60 Tory women MPs (many more if we win a large majority).  That's a big improvement on now.  He has promoted women to his top team - arguably too quickly in some cases.  Pauline Neville-Jones and Sayeeda Warsi were put in the Lords and into his shadow cabinet.  Neither were at Cheltenham.  Maria Miller and Justine Greening are doing well as more junior frontbenchers and could be promoted at any time.  Nadine Dorries MP is a hot tip to join CCHQ soon.  David Cameron aspires for one-third of his ministers to be women (an aspiration ConHome dislikes).

The most important thing during these challenging times for the nation is that David Cameron appoints the most able people to the top jobs in his team.  If you are wanting competence and ability to be the top criteria (and they should be) it is difficult to quarrel with the rapid promotions he has given the likes of Michael Gove, Greg Clark, Chris Grayling and Nick Herbert.  These are big brained stars of the future.  The two women in the Tory team that most impress me are Pauline Neville-Jones on security and Theresa Villiers for carving out a distinctive transport policy.  Now back at local government, after a rocky time as Chairman, Caroline Spelman is beginning to perform well again.  Sayeeda Warsi is good in the media but otherwise yet to prove herself worthy of such a massive appointment two years ago.  Theresa May at Work & Pensions has one of the most important jobs in David Cameron's team.  Cheryl Gillan at Wales is difficult to assess.

In the long-term I hope David Cameron will continue to appoint on merit.  Otherwise he'll have his Jacqui Smith-type problems.  And, in the medium term, there is a lot of cause for encouragement about Tory women.  PPCs such as Louise Bagshawe, Harriett Baldwin, Karen Bradley, Angie Bray, Lorraine Fullbrook, Rebecca Harris, Margot James, Andrea Leadsom, Priti Patel, Laura Sandys, Phillippa Stroud... [I could go on] are going to make fine Tory MPs... and, I hope, ministers.
 
Tim Montgomerie

More than a quarter of the original A-List are no longer seeking a parliamentary seat

The publication of CCHQ's "priority list" of candidates here in May 2006 was a big moment in the four year development of ConservativeHome, with all attempts by the party to keep the identity of the names on the so-called A-List a secret quickly being blown away.

But if these were the chosen candidates which the party hierarchy wanted to see fast-tracked into Parliament, how successful was the exercise and what has happened to those who have not yet been selected?

Three years on, ConservativeHome decided to find out.

Of those 100 names on the original priority list (one listed as being there, Timothy Coleridge, says that he was never on it, but merely given dispensation to apply for one notionally safe seat with which he had local links), our analysis has found that almost half - 45 - have been selected - but that more than a quarter have stopped looking for a seat for the general election which will take place in the next twelve months.

Here is a summary of our findings:

Is the Candidates' List too long? Should the Priority List be scrapped? How should we select MEP candidates? The three men bidding to be chairman of the National Conservative Convention offer their views

Having already introduced the three candidates standing to be chairman of the National Conservative Convention, below is the first of three tranches of answers to the questions ConservativeHome readers wanted to put to them. The other tranches are to be found here and here.

One issue that has regularly provoked considerable debate within the party is that of the selection of candidates for Westminster and the European Parliament.

Asked whether they had supported the mechanism used to select MEP candidates for June's elections, only one - Jeremy Middleton - said outright that he had opposed it. All candidates agree, however, that the process needs to be reviewed before the next European election.

On the topic of Westminster selections, all three candidates raise a variety of issues: Simon Mort believes that the Candidates' Department has lost the confidence of the voluntary party and that the candidates' list is "absurdly too big" - as well as asserting that sitting MPs should have to "justify their continuance more formally"; Jeremy Middleton calls for the Priority List to be scrapped and for more flexibility to allow local candidates to stand who are not on the candidates' list; and Sir Graham Bright calls for local members to be involved earlier in the selection process, whilst questioning the success of the Primary system.

Here are their answers to our questions in full:  

Don Porter reflects on his time as the most senior volunteer in the Conservative Party after a total of nine years on the Board

Don Porter steps down as Chairman of the National Conservative Convention (NCC) next month after three years in that role, and a total of nine years on the Party Board (as an NCC Vice-President, President and co-opted member). During those years he has worked with four party leaders, five party treasurers, nine party chairmen and attended no fewer than 114 Board meetings. He spoke to Jonathan Isaby last week.

Despite being the most senior party volunteer in the country, with a direct line to David Cameron et al, many will not know exactly what the role of Chairman of the National Conservative Convention actually entails and you certainly won't have read about Don Porter in the newspapers.

"This is the first time in three years I've spoke to a journalist," he tells me. "I regard it as a mild point of success that I've not been quoted in the press at all: I'm here to represent the volunteers to the party and not to the press."

Representing the views of the grassroots to the party is the key to the role of the Chairman of the NCC, the 850-strong body comprising all constituency chairmen, area officers, regional officers, along with 42 representatives each from Conservative Future (CF) and the Conservative Women's Organisation (CWO). Whilst he does chair the six-monthly meetings of the NCC at Spring Forum and Party Conference, that is in essence the smallest element of the role. However, virtually all of what he does during the rest of the year necessarily takes place behind closed doors and often involves fire-fighting in areas where problems have arisen which need a solution or resolution found quietly, swiftly, professionally and well away from public glare.

Will there be a black PM in Downing Street any time soon?

Adam Afriyie - the Conservative MP for Windsor (and tipped by Harry Phibbs as the nearest the Conservative Party has to Barack Obama) - has told The Times that he doesn't expect to see a black MP in 10 Downing Street during his lifetime:

“I do not believe we will see a black prime minister in my lifetime. In the US a fresh face like Obama can make it in one electoral cycle. In Britain it’s generally a gradual process of service and promotion over many years, and often decades, before leading a political party.”

Two immediate qualifications need to be made to Mr Afriye's statement:

• Long service isn't always required. Albeit exceptionally, David Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party after just four years an MP. Nick Clegg rose even faster to head the LibDems (although that may not be an auspicious precedent).
• Margaret Thatcher famously remarked that she didn't expect to see a woman PM in her lifetime.  We all know what happened.

Mr Afriyie was speaking to The Times by way of response to Equality campaigner Trevor Phillips' attack on the British political system's "institutional racism".  Mr Phillips, Head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a former Labour member of the GLA, was particularly critical of his Labour:

“If Barack Obama had lived here I would be very surprised if even somebody as brilliant as him would have been able to break through the institutional stranglehold that there is on power within the Labour Party... The parties and unions and think-tanks are all very happy to sign up to the general idea of advancing the cause of minorities but in practice they would like somebody else to do the business. It’s institutional racism.”

The Conservatives have selected a number of ethnnic minority candidates since 2005.  They include Shaun Bailey, Helen Grant, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, Priti Patel and Paul Uppal.

Do the Tories have a Sarah Palin?

One shadow cabinet minister has described Sarah Palin as "the hottest governor from the coldest state"!

Time will tell if McCain's electrifying pick will stand the test of time but it has already produced a massive boost to Republican fundraising and neutralised Barack Obama's post-Denver bounce.

Is there a Sarah Palin within the Tory Party?  Not necessarily a woman but a up-and-coming and under-used talent who has the potential to connect with new voters.  Suggestions in the thread below please...

"Is there any policy that would most help you in your fight to win your seat that hasn't yet been introduced?"

We asked the above question to 225 Conservative adopted candidates.  124 have replied to the survey in total and about fifty answered this particular question with direct answers.  We publish their verbatim answers below - categorised by us.  Other results of our survey are being gradually published here.  The graphic on the right puts the answers below in context.  123 candidates (one skipped the question) identified crime, cost of living and the national tax burden as the most important three issues that will decide their bids to become an MP.

Taxation and cost of living
> Tax system to support families with young children, married OR NOT.
> I would like to see us commit to prioritising raising the personal tax allowance when the budget allows for tax cuts - I think this could be our equivalent of council tax sales as it would be of most benefit to the C1/C2 classes who I believe determine elections - our aspiration should be that noone should pay income tax until they earn a living wage.
> Any easy to understand policies which could alleviate the burden of ever rising costs of living.   
> Scrapping tax credits and substantially lifting the basic allowance.
> Big increase in personal allowances.
> Raising the tax threshold year on year to get poorer people out of income tax.
> Clear commitment to reducing the tax burden.
> Bigger personal alllowances that will help the poor, cut fuel duty, cut business taxes.
> Council tax discounts for specified roles in a community that help to build a responsible society.
> Scrap car licences and TV licences.
> A clear commitment to reduce the burden of taxation.
> Taxation of cars to be more responsive to registration address postcodes. A blunt environmental tax on fuel or 4x4s will be deeply unpopular in my rural constituency where appropriate vehicles are needed to avoid crippling isolation. Must be some way of not depressing rural dwellers more. Most of us are not rich county set, ok!
> Something on council tax/local taxation. 
> A promise to cut taxes.
> Clear commitment to lower taxes when the public finances allow.

Law and order

> Build more prisons and keep criminals in them.
> Anything which helps with the problem of yob culture amongst our young people, and gives us more police, with more power. Also any policy which reverses the ridiculous rules on political correctness which seem to dominate all areas of life in Britain today.
> Getting more police hours on the street - sort of announced, but some kind of figure about hours on the street (30% more hours on the street by 3 years for instance). Tougher prison sentences for serious and violent crimes, no early release with more prisons.
> A firm policy on how to tackle the ever increasing drug problem.
> Introduce 6 month boot camps for youngsters who commit a second ASB offence; widely available and utilised abstinence based drug rehabilitation.
> Discretion returned to officers involved in community policing. In rural towns, it is still just about possible for police to have a relationship with the community they serve. Tick box procedures are wrecking that.
> Mandatory jail sentences for carrying knives/guns/drugs.
> Revoking the Human rights charter that was introduced by New Labour.

Should Sajjad Karim be fast-tracked to the top of the North West list?

This was the message that Timothy Kirkhope, Leader of our MEPs, emailed to all of his colleagues earlier today concerning the defection of Sajjad Karim:

"I am delighted to inform you all that SAJJAD KARIM, until now one of the Lib/Dem MEPs for the North West of England, has decided to join the Conservative Party and has accepted my offer to join our Delegation. The Chief Whip, with my authority, has informed him that he is in receipt of the Conservative Whip as of today.

This decision by Sajjad is a very important and courageous one and underlines the fact that under David Cameron's leadership we are now, as a Party, with our "Broad Church" much more attractive to former Lib/Dem members.  David Cameron himself has given his full approval and support to this decision by Sajjad.

The discussions themselves which I have carried on with Sajjad have, by necessity, been confidential and obviously sensitive but I am certain that the outcome will be of great mutual benefit to both him and us.

I will notify you in a separate message of an early opportunity for you all to meet with our new Conservative member although I appreciate some of you already know him - but obviously not in the new role which he is taking on.

This is a timely event falling as it does during the increasingly fractious Lib/Dem leadership election.  Perhaps others may decide to leave that Party and join us.  I do hope so."

Do the words (emboldened) in paragraph three mean what I think they mean?  Has he been promised a top spot on the North West list - pour encourager les autres - thus denying a long-standing Conservative the chance to become an MEP?  While I welcome any defection from the LibDems I'd like to be persuaded that his views are consistent with what we'd want from a Conservative representative.  There has to be some suspicion that they are not (see here and here).

'Lord Ashcroft merely levels the playing field'

ConservativeHome has long believed that political parties should not be dependent upon the state or a few big donors for their income.  We support David Cameron's belief in something like a £50,000 cap on donations.  We'd like to see the Conservative Party fund itself from lots of small donations - ideally backed up with some sort of tax relief.  The Canadian Conservatives have been forced to pursue a retail fundraising strategy and it has helped to make them a party that is much more in tune with real voters' concerns.  Ideally, the money being pumped into the Conservative Party by Lord Ashcroft would be part of a strategy to diversify the party's funding base.

Putting all of this on one side for the moment, however, it's clear that Michael Ashcroft's generosity is an essential weapon for Conservative candidates in marginal seats who face very well-funded incumbents.

Robert Halfon, our candidate in Harlow, makes the point very well in a letter he sent to The Guardian:

"Dear Sir

Complaints about Lord Ashcroft funding of marginal seats is really just a Labour red herring.

As a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate fighting to overturn a Labour majority of just 97, I am faced with a huge inbuilt disadvantage.

Not only does the MP have £18,000 of taxpayer funds annually to 'communicate' with the electorate (not forgetting the £10,000 bonus recently added), he also has £7,000 postal expenses and a fully staffed office also paid for by the taxpayer. My MP regularly writes unsolicited letters to members of the public. Indeed, he has the third highest postage bill in the country.

So, with a £28,000 annual communications allowance, a huge postage allowance and Trade Union funds, Labour MPs have an automatic head start over any challenger. Support from Lord Ashcroft and others to Conservative Parliamentary Candidates merely levels the playing field.

Yours sincerely

Robert Halfon
Harlow Conservative Prospective MP"

The Guardian have not (yet) published the letter.

PS Today's World at One discusses Lord Ashcroft's target seats funding.  Click here and listen from 23 minutes in.

Thoughts on next steps for modernisation...

Later this afternoon I'll post on 'next steps for the core vote issues' but here are a few thoughts on what, not particularly accurately, could be described as 'moderniser or change issues'.

Although I'm very glad to see the party 'rebalancing' it is important that the party does not retreat into the core vote territory that was insufficient at recent General Elections.  I have no doubt that David Cameron will remain committed to his change agenda but it's important that the change agenda is also fully consistent with conservative principles...

Continuing to emphasise the public services. Our polices on schools and hospitals are a bit timid but they're much superior to the command and control policies of Gordon Brown.

The environment.  Earlier this month I promoted the idea of 'achievable environmentalism'.  I mentioned planting trees, recycling, cutting waste, investing in renewables, protecting natural habitats.  John Redwood has written today about "practical environmentalism" and highlighted more fuel efficient vehicles, better energy conservation and more intelligent traffic management.  Conservatives should be a party of conservation but not a party of higher green taxes or heavy restrictions on development (eg airport expansion).

Social justice.  At Tuesday's Carlton Club dinner David Cameron noted that there were 600,000 more people living in extreme poverty.  The very poorest have got poorer under Labour.  Britain needs a Conservative approach to poverty.  Stronger families.  A freer, more dynamic voluntary sector.  Zero tolerance of crime and drugs.  School choice.  I have no doubt that the leadership is 100% committed to these core themes of a 'progressive conservatism'.

International development.  It was overshadowed by the fuss over the Rwanda trip, but Peter Lilley produced an excellent report on fighting global poverty.  I hope Andrew Mitchell, Alan Duncan and George Osborne will be able to embrace many of Peter's recommendations this week.  I'd also like the party to take more action against the trade of arms to despotic regimes.  I also wish we'd spoken out against the cancellation of the BAe-Saudi bribery investigation.

Respect for gay people.  Many people oppose David Cameron's belief that gay couples should be recognised in a similar way to married couples.  I don't.  I support the freedom of religious adoption agencies to be able to refuse to place children with gay couples but it's right that a modern Conservative Party is a defender of the rights of adult gay people.

Candidate diversity.  I never supported the A-list but there are many advantages in having more diverse candidates.  More people with roots in the north and in the public and voluntary sectors, for example.  Candidate diversity shouldn't just be about more women and more ethnic minorities.  We should be actively recruiting candidates with real knowledge of poverty-fighting and environmental protection.

Changes of tone.  Another change for the party to maintain is the change of tone.  Sometimes our party's rhetoric has been too harsh.  In the last campaign our posters accusing Tony Blair of being a liar reflected more on us than on him.  Our campaigning can still be negative but it shouldn't be personal.

Andrew Pelling arrested

The Daily Mail is reporting that Andrew Pelling was held by police yesterday on suspicion of "assaulting his wife". He's been released on bail.

Andrew was elected as the Conservative MP for Croydon Central in 2005 with a majority of just 75 votes, and retains his position as an active London Assembly Member and Councillor in the area.

If this is proven to be true and his wife presses charges, he will face a difficult parliamentary election.

Comments have been disabled on this post.

Deputy Editor

'Playing the English card'

Mark Field MP has answered your questions on today's interviews blog.  In his answer to a question from 'Harlequin.dane' he writes:

"Since the expulsion of most of the hereditary peers, I have, in principle, favoured the option of a fully or largely-elected House of Lords. However, I recognise that such an outcome is unlikely to be within the realms of practical politics, not least as the House of Lords as currently constituted is likely to be hostile and there would be little agreement as to the timing or form of elections. I would prefer to see the creation of a completely new federal parliament. Four, full, national parliaments in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with most of the existing powers of the House of Commons and over them a federal United Kingdom parliament, which would debate defence and foreign affairs, make treaties and administer a cohesion fund for the poorer parts of the UK. It would be funded by a per GDP levy on the national parliaments. There would be no need for extra politicians, as the national parliaments would send representatives to the UK parliament and meet together for its debates, which could be held in the old House of Lords chamber.  I appreciate it is a bold, indeed a radical, suggestion but I believe that the only way to restore the balance of the British constitution, which had served us so well for so long, is to offer the British people this fairer alternative in a referendum once we have won the next election."

Brown's Scottishness does not yet appear to have undermined him in any serious way with English voters but there are a number of CCHQ tacticians - and key figures at The Daily Telegraph - who think 'the English card' is the best way of putting David Cameron into Downing Street.  David Cameron raised the West Lothian question in his first parliamentary encounter with Brown and backbench Tory MPs have pummeled Mr Brown on the issue at PMQs.

In the Q&A Mark also critiques the A-list:

"Whilst I strongly agree that the Conservative Party should reach out to embrace a broader range of candidates, my biggest objection to the ‘A List’ (and any other Party list system such as applies for European elections) is that it encourages many Conservative candidates and future MPs to regard their role first and foremost as a mouthpiece for the Party leadership or CCHQ. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the constitutional role of a backbencher, which is to hold the Executive to account (a role every bit as important for government MPs as it is for Opposition backbenchers as this country has learnt to its detriment over the past decade)."

Cameron is beginning to reassert his authority

Candidates should always enjoy a certain freedom of expression.  I am glad, for example, that Eurosceptic candidates are free to support the Better Off Out campaign, despite the frontbench's commitment to EU membership.  Many candidates take strong positions against the Iraq war that disappoint me but I respect their convictions.  There has to be certain discipline, however, in candidate-party relations.  Ali Miraj's pattern of ill discipline justified CCHQ's decision to suspend him from the candidates' list.

Yesterday's attack on the party leadership was not the first time Ali has pushed his luck.  Last year he appeared to suggest that his own difficulties in finding a seat could be related to his ethnicity.  He wondered aloud if Witham and other Tory Associations were guilty of prejudice in candidate selection.  Witham's decision to adopt Priti Patel as their candidate was the grassroots' best possible response to the slur.

On Monday night Ali Miraj launched a direct attack on David Cameron's leadership.  His attack (read it in full here) contained criticisms that many ConservativeHome readers would have sympathy with but he didn't stop there.  On yesterday's World at One he launched a machine gun attack on Team Cameron.  On top of his criticism of David Cameron as a PR obsessive he questioned the Tory leader's integrity and then brought up communication chief Andy Coulson's record at the News of the World.  As his attack grew wider his political grave got deeper.  Recent events are regrettable as Ali has made a number of thoughtful contributions to the party's policy development.  The row over his alleged request for a peerage is a sad way for his Conservative career to end.

Although David Cameron has suffered a trying few months we should not exaggerate his difficulties.  Most of his critics are not 'Top Tories' as the media likes to describe them.  Although dissatisfaction with his strategy is considerable there is rightly little desire to replace him as party leader.  He still retains enormous goodwill and he should use that goodwill to enforce more discipline.  The suspension of Ali Miraj was an encouraging sign in this regard.  The next step should be to encourage a fuller-time shadow cabinet.  The extent of outside interests is little short of disgraceful.  He should also demand to know why his media team are not in daily and personal contact with the country's top journalists.

The Conservative leader (visiting Afghanistan today) is right to say that the fundamental failures of Labour will eventually kill the Brown bounce but there must be worries that Brown will still be bouncing high if he chooses an early election.  As recommended last week we need a guerilla war against Brown over the summer to prevent an autumn election.  Every month we can now buy will give the party an opportunity to bring Brown's ratings back to earth.

The last few days' noise from Brady, Kalms, Miraj and Saatchi hid some solid announcements over the last week.  I think of Peter Lilley's excellent report on international development; William Hague's openness to a private referendum on the EU Treaty; a commitment to special needs schools; and yesterday's strong statement on school discipline.  Not only were each of the announcements good in themselves they were a balance of core and modernising themes - 'the politics of and' in action.  They give us hope that the strategy is evolving in the right direction.

Bombshell for Brown as five Ealing Southall councillors defect from Labour to the Conservatives

David Cameron is in Ealing Southall as I post this blog welcoming FIVE Labour councillors into the Tory fold.  This is not only a massive boost to Tony Lit's by-election campaign it is also a serious blow to Gordon Brown.

This is the statement from the five defecting councillors:

"It has become increasingly obvious as this by-election campaign has progressed, that the Conservative candidate Tony Lit is the best person to represent Ealing Southall as our next MP.  He's energetic, dynamic and displays the kind of qualities that would make him ideally suited to represent the people of Ealing Southall. We wanted to provide him with our backing and joining the Conservative Party sends the clearest possible message.

"Locally since Conservatives took control of Ealing Council in May 2006 we have noticed that they have been making great strides towards trying to improve the quality of life for all our residents. We've finally reached the stage where it has become blatantly obvious that we would be doing own voters a great disservice if we continue to dogmatically stick with a disorganised and divided Labour Party. Our goal is to see genuine improvements for our residents. We believe that the Conservative Party now provides our community with greater opportunities and is genuinely interested in improving services for all.

"At a national level we are extremely impressed by David Cameron's modern Conservatives and, with the changes that he has now made, we feel that the Conservative Party now best represents our views. In a sense we believe the Conservatives have become our natural home and we are very excited about the opportunity to play a full part in a Party which we believe is destined to form the next government."

The five new Tory councillors are: Gurcharan Singh, Manjit Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta. Also, local Sikh Dr Gulbash Singh was going to stand as an independent but has now backed Tony Lit.

Cameron addresses the Eton factor

Throughout the grammar schools debate there has been an underlying suspicion from many that the Eton-educated Tory leader is denying others the kind of elite education that grammar schools traditionally provided poorer parents.  A leader in today's Sunday Telegraph argues that that the idea of a privileged Tory leadership has been reinforced by the last two weeks.  David Cameron, who was questioned by John Humphrys on his Etonian background during Tuesday's Today programme interview, addresses the issue directly in an article for today's Mail on Sunday:

"As a leader, I may be a white, fortysomething old Etonian, but that doesn't constrain what I do.  No previous leader of the Conservatives has done as much, for example, to bust open the selection of Parliamentary candidates to include more women (now over a third) and more black and minority ethnic candidates.  After the next Election, the Conservative parliamentary party will have a far wider and more diverse pool of talent - and quite right too.

As an individual with three children aged five or under, I worry more about finding good state schools than almost anything else.  I want a special school for my son that will meet his particular needs.  I want state schools for the other two where they will be not just happy and safe, but challenged and inspired.

My loathing of experimental teaching methods that failed generations of children, my fear of disruptive children wrecking the education of those who want to get on and learn, my contempt for the 'all must win prizes' mentality - whether in sporting or academic endeavour - is not just political, it's personal."

Mr Cameron also uses his article to list some of the practical policies that the Conservatives will adopt to help raise educational standards.

The Conservative leader is right to say that he has invested a lot of political capital to bring more women and minority candidates into the party (and he is succeeding in doing so) but ConservativeHome remains disappointed that little has been done to address the financial exclusion issues involved in candidate selection.  The average cost of becoming a Tory MP has been calculated by this website at over £40,000 and ConservativeHome has yet to hear of any coordinated proposals to support lower income people in their parliamentary ambitions.  A ConservativeHome page dedicated to this issue can be accessed here.

Coming soon: The Conservative Party's first all women shortlist

ConservativeHome has learnt that there is another hugely controversial dimension to the proposed changes to European candidate selection.  In order to address the fact that there is currently only one woman MEP - Caroline Jackson - the National European Forum has proposed a mechanism that will effectively mean that every MEP that is standing down will be replaced by a woman candidate.  This way of filling vacant slots will be the first example of an all-women shortlist in the history of the Conservative Party.

In summary what is being proposed is:

(1) Ordinary members lose their decisive say on MEP candidate selection;
(2) Incumbent MEPs - many of them unsupportive of David Cameron's pledge to leave the EPP - will be kept at the top of regional lists if a committee of party appointees and Association Chairmen agree;
(3) All retiring MEPs can only be replaced by women;
(4) Lower slots on the regional lists will be decided by all members.

Editor's comment: "The Party Board votes on these proposals on Monday.  My prediction is that they will reject the all-women shortlist but keep the dilution of democracy.  This will be presented as a compromise and a sign of a "listening Board."  In truth it will be another sign that the Board is a servant of the leadership, rather than a reliable protector of the grassroots' freedoms."

Tories urged to accelerate selections

An article in this morning's Daily Telegraph - using data from this website's Seats and candidates blog - notes that 32 of the 116 seats that the Conservatives need to win in order to enjoy a parliamentary majority are yet to adopt candidates.  The Telegraph highlights seats such as Westmorland and Lonsdale, Gillingham and Rainham, and Rochester and Strood.  It seems increasingly unlikely that Gordon Brown will call a quick General Election on becoming Prime Minister - which despite continuing talk of a Miliband challenge - looks the most likely outcome of any Labour leadership race.  There is absolutely no reason for panic, therefore.  What The Telegraph piece does remind us, however, is that early selection is important for candidate success.  The case for choosing early was set out in a paper by David Burrowes MP last May.  In 'Pick 'em local and Pick 'em early' the Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate concluded that early selection gave candidates the opportunity to command local recognition and understandings that were key determinants of victory.

Year2(4): Abolish the A-list

Recommendation 4: I hear the A-list has been topped-up again and, of course, a few A-listers might soon be culled but isn't it time for it to be scrapped?  It has succeeded in increasing the number of female candidates but only at the expense of creating a large number of disaffected activists and of dividing Associations like Tynemouth.  My guess is that its tutorial effect will continue after it has been abolished.  Associations understand the leadership's desire for a more representative party but they also know that the A-list only offers a face-deep diversity.  It includes very few people with public sector backgrounds and is heavily skewed to the south east of England.  Given the A-list's recent successes it would be an apposite time for it to be abolished without too much negative PR and then relations between the centre and local associations could start to heal.

Now, can we please stop stereotyping the Tory grassroots?

I guess there must be shock all around the Commons' tea-room this morning.  Witham Tories did what, reportedly, a number of Conservative MPs thought very unlikely... they didn't choose a middle-aged, white male but a young, Asian female - Priti Patel.  Ali Miraj did himself no favours by recently adding to the tired media slur on the Tory grassroots.  It is, of course, true that there is unacceptable prejudice within some Conservative Associations but that is increasingly exceptional.

Again and again Tory members defy the pigeon-holing by all too many MPs and journalists.  Three of the safer Tory seats in the country have all chosen ethnic minority candidates in recent years.   Windsor chose Adam Afriyie, Cambridgeshire NW chose Shailesh Vara and now Witham has chosen the highly able (and decidely Eurosceptic) Priti Patel.   Before the last election the heartland seat of Arundel and South Downs chose the openly gay Nick Herbert.  In the current selection process we have seen the openly gay David Golds adopted.  Alan Duncan has not been ostracised for 'coming out'... his constituency has been very supportive and he is, of course, now in the shadow cabinet.

Criticism of the Tory membership is understandable when it comes from the media but is unacceptable when it comes from Conservative candidates and MPs.  The dismissive attitude reached its peak (trough?) when Michael Howard led an attempt to disenfranchise grassroots members in the choice of party leader.  Fortunately that attempt was defeated and members voted for the apparently modernising, rather than the more traditionalist candidate.

Unfortunately the we-know-better attitude lives on in CCHQ.  The attempts to restrict the freedoms of local association to choose Westminster and European candidates goes on.  We can only hope that the party leadership that champions localism for the rest of the country will soon champion it for its own members, too.

Related link: Tory members deserve a little more respect from Tory MPs

"Target seat funding will follow the degree to which Associations follow the Party’s strategy, for example with regard to grouping and selecting the right candidate."

Iain Dale has a report from today’s Take Your Seat conference put on by Michael Ashcroft at the Millbrook Centre near Milton Keynes. Iain is very positive about the professionalism of the event. ConservativeHome understands that the best part of 1,000 people attended. A listers, MPs, constituency chairman and agents from target seats were among the audience. They heard presentations from David Cameron, Francis Maude, Michael Ashcroft himself, his Chief of Staff Stephen Gilbert who gave a detailed (warts-and-all) summary of the Party’s private polling, Gavin Barwell, Don Porter, Patrick McLoughlin. It seems that constituency associations were told to shape up or ship out. If they didn’t fall into line with the Centre’s plans for groupings, or they failed to support their candidates, they could not expect to receive any support from the centre – financial or otherwise.

The quote in the title of this post is from Gavin Barwell, part of Lord Ashcroft's team.

Francis Maude launches final plans for the London mayoral selection

"Avid Conservativehome participants will know that we’re planning to open up the selection process for our candidate to run for Mayor of London in 2008. Everyone on the electoral register in London will be able to have a say over who will be the Conservative candidate to challenge Ken Livingstone for the capital’s top job.  And every Londoner who supports the Conservative Party has the chance to be our candidate.

We already have the loyal support of our membership, which is essential for any political party, and was absolutely key to our recent local election success. But now we need to reach out to the wider electorate and get new people involved in politics.

This is the very first time in British politics that such an important post has been chosen like this.  By doing things differently, Conservatives will get people talking about politics again and encourage them to get involved. We need to tackle the disillusionment and mistrust that the public has in politics, and doing something truly innovative like this is the best way of getting people engaged again.

The Mayor’s decisions have a huge impact on the lives of everyone who lives in the city, so it makes sense to give everybody the opportunity to have a say in choosing who they think is best suited to the task.  

The process will be complete by early December, giving our candidate eighteen months to campaign for the job.  And having been chosen by Londoners at large, that candidate will start with a huge advantage.

We’ve thought very carefully about the details of the process.  We’re inviting applications over the rest of the summer, with a panel – not just Conservatives - interviewing to draw up a shortlist by Party Conference time.  The shortlisted candidates will then campaign through London over the next two months, with a number of hustings meetings spread around the metropolis and suburbs.

If you think you have the skills for London's top job, please do consider applying.  You can find the details here."

Cornerstone fires localist versus A-list debate

Today sees the latest publication from the Cornerstone Group of socially conservative Tory MPs (the membership of which now equals about forty).  Previous publication topics have included higher education and exiting the EPP.

David Burrowes is the author of 'Pick 'em local and Pick 'em early' - a timely contribution to the debate on candidate selection currently raging within the Conservative Party and something of a challenge to the approach enshrined in the party's A-list.

At the last election David defeated Stephen Twigg with a swing of 8.7%.  The Enfield Southgate seat was low down on the list of Tory targets (number 114) but David took the seat - once held by Michael Portillo - with the biggest swing of any victorious Conservative candidate.  David is in a good position to recommend how to achieve a good election result. 

'Pick 'em local and Pick 'em early' reflects David's own experiences and an analysis of the common factors in the performance of Tory MPs who "achieved at least double the national average swing".   Those common factors are summarised in the blue graphic on the right.

Local candidates and strong commitment to the locality are the big themes in David Burrowes' analysis.  He makes a strong case for radical localisation of power as a principal way in which to address the sense of powerlessness that is driving voter apathy.  He uses the example of local phone masts to illustrate how the people of his own constituency have come to feel disempowered:

"Many constituents are frustrated that the first wave of masts was built with comparatively little public consultation or consideration for their local health or environmental concerns. Their protests have grown louder with the third generation phone upgrade which has ushered in another wave of mast building more densely spread than the first. Phone masts appearing on constituents’ doorsteps has vividly brought home their lack of control over their local area."

David Burrowes believes that compassionate, values-based local activism is a big part of the response to the reduction in voter turnout from 77% in 1992 to just 62% last year.  He also thinks that it is the way to elect more Conservative MPs.

David Burrowes believes he was able to repeat the same success that saw Andrew Rosindell achieve 2001's standout Tory result (in Romford):

"In 2001 one of our best results was in Romford where Andrew Rosindell bucked the national trend and regained the seat from Labour. Andrew’s success was no doubt formed from a proven track record over a number of years as a local champion. I recognised this point and similarly was able to lean on my position as a local councillor of 11 years in Enfield Southgate. I was well placed to voice constituents’ concerns about their locality and act as a focal point for campaigns on highly localised issues."

Association Chairmen give green light to A-list

More4 News has surveyed fifty chairmen of Conservative Associations for tonight's 8pm programme.  The fifty chairmen represent Tory activists in over half of the party's top eighty target seats and these were their responses to three questions posed by More4 News:

(1) Do you agree with the policy of selecting PPCs from an A list in key marginals and conservative held seats?

Yes: 32
No: 9
Undecided: 9

(2) Do you approve of David Cameron having a quota of 50% women and 10% black and ethnic minorities on the A-list?

Yes: 26
No: 16
Undecided: 18

(3) Do you think that David Cameron's policy will damage the credibility of the Conservative party?

Yes: 4
No: 38
Undecided: 8

On the face of it these numbers from chairmen look reasonably good for David Cameron and they contrast with ConservativeHome's January finding that 60% of Tory members disapprove of the 50/50 nature of the A-list.  It might be that the passage of time has softened opposition to the A-list.  It might be that Association Chairmen are disproportionately loyal to CCHQ's wishes.

The danger for Mr Cameron is that the opposition to the policy of nine Association Chairmen - is typical of some other Association officers and will develop into a fuller resistance to the A-list.  This seems less likely if CCHQ continues to adopt the softly-softly approach that we have seen in the last two days:

• The fact that at least two local candidates have been permitted to apply for the A-list seat of South Northamptonshire suggests that CCHQ is willing to allow some flexibility in how seats use the A-list.
• And yesterday's special by-election arrangements for Bromley & Chislehurst.

Is David Cameron happy with the A-list?

A story in today's Sunday Telegraph hints at dissatisfaction with the A-list from none other than the Tory leader himself.  Mr Cameron is reported as having been surprised about the list.  The article by Melissa Kite and Jonathan Wynne-Jones concludes: "The Tory leader had wanted to boost the number of women, rather than minor celebrities, and had expected more candidates from outside the South East."

The speculation comes at the end of an article which suggests that the A-list may fall at its first hurdle: the battle for Bromley and Chislehurst.  The Sunday Telegraph reports a mood "of brooding rebellion": "A string of local candidates is emerging, including Nicholas Bennett, the former MP for Reading West; Bob Neill, a London Assembly member; and Colin Bloom, a Tory councillor."

The danger of local unhappiness at the A-list was entirely predictable from the start of this process.  A ConservativeHome survey last year found that 71% of Tory members wanted more local candidates in the most marginal seats - twice as many as supported the party's idea of an A-list (also see these verbatims from the survey).  Here are some of the other things that have gone wrong with the list:

• Far fewer women than men applied for the list than CCHQ had hoped;
• Details of how CCHQ hoped to micromanage the selection process in the first 35 seats were leaked to ConservativeHome;
• Attempts by CCHQ to keep the A-list secret were thwarted by this website and publication shone a light on an apparent failure to recruit sufficient candidates from northern England;
• Some A-listers told ConservativeHome that they were disappointed by the first tranche of 35 seats they are obligated to apply for. The first 35 seats largely fell short of the plum seats the A-listers had expected to be rewarded with;
• Columnists as diverse as William Rees-Mogg and Nick Cohen have attacked the Blairite nature of the list;
• Some of the A-listers have already embarrassed the party - Sayeeda Warsi made inaccurate statistical claims about the detention of terror suspects, Elizabeth Truss had an affair with Mark Field MP, and today Adam Rickitt finds his 'the rich should use private healthcare' message at odds with David Cameron's 'NHS for all' emphasis; and
• The A-list's first big test - Bromley and Chislehurst - may assert its legal right to ignore the list and choose a local candidate.

Editor's note: "The A-list project may still work.  The clear majority of its members are good quality candidates but the forthcoming list top-ups must address some of the most egregious omissions.  The second need is for more acceptance of local candidates.  By giving encouragement to local people to stand in selection meetings, CCHQ would be respecting the clear wishes of Conservative members for candidates who are rooted in their constituency communities."