ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

What next for the Priority List?

Later this morning Malcolm Dunn will be providing a review of last night's first 'Built To Last' roadshow event.  The event was fairly subdued but it came to life when a young Asian woman raised objections to the whole concept of the Priority List.  I have asked her to develop her contribution by writing a piece for YourPlatform.  Her basic argument was that she had not felt discriminated against in the Tory party before David Cameron became its leader.  With the advent of the Priority List she now fears that any future advances she makes could be devalued in the eyes of others.  She fears that people will interpret any progress as reflecting her gender or skin colour rather than her inherent abilities.

Unpopularity is not the only problem facing the A-list, however.  Tuesday's Telegraph underlined the fact that CCHQ cannot force Associations to pick from the list.  Last night's BtL meeting revealed strong support for local associations being able to pick local candidates.  As the clipping (right) from yesterday's London Evening Standard reveals, one candidate has already decided to apply directly to one or more of the seats that ConservativeHome revealed are in the first tranche of selecting.   ConservativeHome believes that the first tranche of 35 seats have been specifically chosen to help meet CCHQ's target of 20 women being selected.  They include a disproportionate number of seats who have selected women in the past and they are being subjected to a major charm offensive.

Because of Conservative activists' strong support for local rather than A-list candidates - and the potency of locally-rooted candidates, particularly in northern constituencies - future months will probably produce non A-list selections. 

David Cameron, Francis Maude and George Osborne are in Manchester again today as part of continuing efforts to rebuild the party's northern appeal.  ToryDiary discussed the north-south challenge on Monday and this recent article by Barry White in the Yorkshire Post argues for "a permanent Northern Conservative Headquarters", properly staffed to recruit, organise, motivate, lobby, explain and disseminate.

All MEPs can compete with the A-listers

ConservativeHome has learnt that all Tory MEPs have been given regional passports to parliamentary seats.  At least three MEPs - Martin Callanan, Chris Heaton-Harris and Syed Kamall - are on the full A-list and can apply for any seat but all sitting MEPs can apply for seats within the Euro-regions they represent.

Conservative Associations may be reluctant to appoint MEPs from outside of their regions as such MEPs will then have divided loyalties but MEPs from the same region could offer powerful advantages.  Already employed to represent the locality (and armed with handsome Brussels allowances) they could be effective champions of local concerns in the media as well as in the European Parliament.

The frontpage contains newslinks to profiles of A-listers Louise Bagshawe and Adam Rickitt plus Iain Dale's reflections on not being on the list.

The first 35 seats that will be choosing from the A-List

ConservativeHome has received a copy of the first 35 target seats which Priority List candidates will be able to apply for:

1. Broxtowe
2. Daventry
3. Mid Derbyshire      
4. South Northamptonshire      
5. Colchester
6. Luton North 
7. Stevenage 
8. Watford
9. Ealing Central and Acton
10. Eltham
11. Finchley and Golders Green
12. Richmond Park
13. Stockton South 
14. Bury South
15. Pendle      
16. Sefton Central 
17. Folkestone and Hythe 
18. Hove
19. Lewes 
20. Oxford West and Abingdon
21. Reading West
22. Central Devon      
23. Chippenham      
24. Filton and Bradley Stoke      
25. North East Somerset 
26. South Dorset      
27. Truro and Falmouth      
28. Coventry South
29. Stafford
30. Staffordshire Moorlands
31. Telford 
32. West Worcestershire
33. Worcester
34. Selby and Ainsty
35. York Outer (Vale of York)

Applications for these constituencies must be received by 19 May.

ConservativeHome is seeking party members from these constituencies who are willing to report on the selection processes and candidates.  Please email [email protected] if you might be able to help in due course...

Why ConservativeHome is publishing the A-List

On the GoldList blog this morning, ConservativeHome publishes the names of some of the men and women who have been accepted on to the party's priority list of parliamentary candidates.  The Conservative Party wants to keep the list secret.  ConservativeHome believes that the party membership deserves to see who its flagship candidates are.  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.  Does it, for example, include the kind of northern Britons who can help us win in Lancashire and Yorkshire?  The same people who tried to disenfranchise rank-and-file members in last year's leadership election are still showing insufficient respect for members.

So what should we make of the list as it currently stands?

I don't know many of the names that appear on the list but some I know to be of exceptional quality.  Karen Bradley, Fiona Bruce, Margot James, Julia Manning, Hannah Parker and Philippa Stroud, for example, are women who are as conservative as they are compassionate - as media-friendly as they are serious and principled.

I am personally delighted to see Howard Flight on the list.  He was treated very harshly by Michael Howard last year and should still be the Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs today (although Nick Herbert couldn't have been a better replacement).

I would also highlight Nicholas Boles, George Freeman and Mel Stride.  These are the kind of serious thinkers that a future Tory government will need to flourish.

But if the A-list has strengths the process that has led to its formation has had significant downsides.  Many candidates have testified to the uneven nature and rigour of the interview process they faced.  Some candidates learnt if they were on the list - or excluded from it - from a face-to-face meeting with Francis Maude or a telephone call from Theresa May.  Others were tipped off by their MPs.  Others had to wait for the letters to arrive yesterday.  There has not been equal treatment.

Some of the decisions have baffled me and readers of Iain Dale's blog were clearly disappointed at his 'you may get on in the next round' letter.   I received a steady stream of phone calls yesterday about different friends and contacts being 'on' or 'off'.  The news that surprised me most was CCHQ's decision not to put Dominic Schofield on the list.  Not yet anyway - all candidates have been told that they might be promoted to the A-list later in the year.  Dominic achieved a 6.7% swing from Labour to the Tories in Battersea, at the last General Election.  He reduced the Labour majority to just 163.  I campaigned a little there myself with Dominic and he was an exceptional vote-winner.  The 2005 campaign and its heavy core vote message was not designed for the average Battersea voter and Dominic's result was all the more impressive in that light.

People with no track record of working for the party may deserve to be on the A-list if they are exceptional prospects for the future.  I can understand that although their loyalty should probably have been tested over a couple of years.  What I cannot understand, however, is why proven vote-winners, who have stuck with the party over the last difficult decade, are dropped in favour of people who have not achieved at the ballot box.  A little more transparency from CCHQ on the criteria they have used would be helpful.

Sam Coates, Deputy Editor, and I will be looking at this comments thread very carefully and deleting comments that are gratuitously offensive to individual personalities and we will ban the IP addresses of their authors.

A-List D-Day

In line with existing policy on the candidates' list, the Conservative Party has decided that it will not publish the names of the individuals who are on the new A-list.  ConservativeHome will attempt - from tomorrow - to publish a rolling list of those people who are told today that they are on the list of priority candidates (background here).

If you know of people who are on the list please email [email protected].

Wednesday is A-list day

Many would-be Tory MPs will be anxiously waiting for their post to arrive over the next couple of days.  ConservativeHome understands that applicants for the party's Priority List should receive their letters from CCHQ on Wednesday.

At least 100 names will be on the list - and as ConservativeHome has already reported, over half will be women and a tenth will be from ethnic minorities.

There will be no formal publication of the list (in line with the current list of approved candidates) and those candidates who are successful in getting on to the list will be asked not to talk to the media (except through CCHQ) to alert CCHQ to any media contact (strikethru and red text amendment made at 6.05pm on sound advice).  A number of target parliamentary seats will start selecting immediately although these will not be publicly identified.

The Priority List will be topped up in July and in December.  The hope of being part of these top-ups will, CCHQ must hope, mollify candidates who are unsuccessful this week.

If you are a candidate and would like to report something to ConservativeHome please email [email protected].  Your email will be treated in strictest confidence and your identity revealed to noone.

'Staff is policy' is one of the truest of dictums and David Cameron's greatest legacy to the party might be the candidates he promotes and local associations then choose.  If Mr Cameron becomes Britain's next Prime Minister (and the Tories are now favourites to win the next election) he will bring 130 and more new Tory MPs into Parliament.  Over five to ten years of leadership he will be responsible for 50% or more of the make-up of the parliamentary party.  Unlike George W Bush who has used his de facto leadership of the American Republicans to encourage the adoption of socially conservative, tax-cutting and hawkish candidates in congressional and gubernatorial races, Mr Cameron is not pursuing an obviously ideological approach to selection.  His objective is the simple one of increasing the number of women and ethnic Tory MPs.

Will this have implications for the ideological and political balance of the party?

Mary Ann Sieghart thinks 'yes'.  Reacting last year to Theresa May's early advocacy of 50/50 lists The Times' columnist noted how the Labour Party’s increased number of women MPs agitated “for the party to pay more attention to the issues that female voters really cared about: public services, childcare, work-life balance”.  There may or may not be ideological implications of more female Tory MPs but there must be a strong likelihood of more interest in the issues identified by Ms Sieghart.

Cameron's office plans for 20 of 35 safest seats to choose women

This morning's Telegraph reported a leaked memo revealing a "secret plan" to favour women in the party's safest seats.  ConservativeHome has been able to verify The Telegraph story.  Pasted below is a leaked copy of a confidential email from Edward Llewellyn - David Cameron's chief of staff - to key advisers.  The email agreed that the party should aim to ensure that women are selected in "at least 20 of the 35 seats in play" before the Party Conference.  The constituency officers of the 35 plus seats will be invited to meetings with Bernard Jenkin in David Cameron's office.  "DC would drop in on these meetings whenever possible," point five of the memo states.  Click on the image to enlarge the leaked email.

At a lunchtime meeting with lobby journalists today, David Cameron said that more than 50% of the candidates on the Priority List are women and 10% are from ethnic minorities.  Applicants for the List will receive their letters after May 4th's local elections.

Related link: Bernard Jenkin answers questions posed by ConservativeHome readers.

CCHQ set for tactical retreat on Priority List

Today's Times reports that the Conservative Party may have had to dilute its plans for a 'priority candidates list' of 70 men and 70 women.  This, it reports, reflects the fact that "of the 450 hopefuls who have applied for a place on the priority list, only a quarter are women".  If the party had not diluted its plans over 60% of the women who have applied for the A-List of parliamentary candidates would have been successful but only 20% of the men.  Mr Cameron is attempting to alter the fact that only 8.6% of Tory MPs are women - compared to 27.5% of Labour MPs (as mentioned in today's Guardian).  Francis Maude has said:

"Far too many Conservative MPs are like me: white, middle-class, English, based in the south-east - identikit Tories.  And it doesn't look like modern Britain, where 52% of the electorate are women and 8% are ethnic minorities. If we don't look like we are capable of representing that 52% of the electorate who are women, we won't secure their support."

It is not clear how many people will be on the modified priority list but CCHQ fears a very negative reaction from some of the male candidates who are set to be disappointed.  One unnamed MP told The Times:

“We are seeing a lot of very, very good men come in for interview and there will not be room for them on the list.  It is not that the women are not good too, it is just a fact that it is much easier for them to make it through... For many [males] approaching their forties this is their last chance to become an MP.  The danger is they walk away if they don’t make it and we lose dozens of loyal activists.”

Candidates who have attended Priority List interviews have told ConservativeHome.com of very unsatisfactory experiences.  Few have been subject to the rigorous testing of competencies that they had anticipated.  Some have felt that they were prejudged after their interviewers spent considerable time explaining how restrictive the list was and that there were many alternative ways to serve the party.

On the other side of the table, interviewers have been concerned that many of the women candidates are of insufficient quality and experience.  They believe that more time should have been given for initiatives like Women2Win to talent spot and mentor women so that the 50/50 objective could have been achieved without any risk to candidate quality.

The Priority List has always been controversial amongst the Tory grassroots.  By 60% to 37% the ConservativeHome Members' Panel opposes its 50/50 character.

The Guardian reports that big decisions about the Priority List will be taken this weekend and candidates will receive letters about their status after May's local elections.

Bernard Jenkin MP will answer your questions on candidate issues on Friday.  Ben Rogers is nominated for ConservativeHome's GoldList today.

CCHQ announces new, three-stage candidate selection system

Pasted below - without amendment, subtraction or addition - is a CCHQ press release on "new candidate selection guidelines":

"The Conservative Party Board has published selection guidelines for the Party’s associations that will be selecting priority candidates.  Changes to selection procedures include:

1. an initial interview and presentation by candidates to a selection committee
2. associations to either consult with the community during selection or hold a primary
3. an end to candidates making a big speech at their selection meeting

Commenting on the guidelines, the Conservative Party Chairman, Francis Maude said:

“These guidelines are further evidence that the Party is changing.  If we want to be more inclusive, we must actively seek to include.  That is why we are changing the way we go about selecting candidates to make sure that we include the whole community a candidate seeks to represent.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

SELECTION COMMITTEE INTERVIEW STAGE - THE INTERVIEWS

Interviews will be carried out by the Selection Committee.

The format for the interviews should be a presentation of between 5 and 10 minutes followed by 15 to 20 minutes of questions.  In addition to a number of set questions, members of the Committee should be able to ask further questions.

At the end of this stage a decision is made on the number of applicants the Committee wishes to proceed to the next stage.  The Selection Committee shall recommend not less than 3, but ideally 4 to 6, for interview by the Executive Council.

WIDER COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

If not opting for a Primary selection, Associations must consult the wider community at this stage. Before the Executive Council meets and interviews the remaining applicants, non-party member representatives from the local community will have the chance to meet and interview them, scoring them on a range of skill areas and giving their overall impression of how suitable the applicants would be as the local candidate/MP. Their comments would then help to inform the Executive Council in deciding which 2 - 4 applicants’ progress to the final round.

THE SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING

The SGM is the opportunity for the full Association’s membership to choose their next parliamentary candidate.

There will be no set speech.

Each applicant will be interviewed separately by a designated moderator/interviewer, (e.g. a local journalist, community leader or relevant local professional) for up to 10 minutes in duration.

At the end of the interview there will be a Q&A session for a maximum of 20 minutes. The moderator or interviewer will ask for questions from the floor and will have flexibility to explore the answers given by the applicants."

Party board election: Priority list

Cllr Derek Tipp's fourth question refers to the controversial Priority List for Conservative candidates.   Only 37% of Tory members belonging to ConservativeHome's monthly survey of party opinion agree with this central initiative of David Cameron - designed to radically increase the number of women MPs.

Do you agree with the current policy of creating a “Priority List” of candidates consisting of 50% male and 50% female candidates for selection to target seats?

Chishti - The Movie

Labour's Recess Monkey may have first broken the story of Rehman Chishti's defection to the Conservative Party but ConservativeHome has Chishti - The Movie.  World exclusive!

The video shows Francis Maude's opponent-turned-adviser meeting David Cameron and explaining the reasons for his departure.

Mr Chishti was also interviewed on this morning's Today programme.  He cited Labour's glorification of terror measures and Tony Blair's failure to secure UN approval for the Iraq campaign as part of the reason for his defection.   

Tomorrow's 'scoop' will be an exclusive article from David Cameron.  The Conservative leader will be writing for ConservativeHome on his 100th day as party supremo.

Labour PPC joins the Conservative Party

The former Labour parliamentary candidate for Horsham, Rehman Chishti, has defected to the Conservatives. He stood against Francis Maude at the last election with a 3.1% swing against him. Francis said that:

“Rehman is an extremely able and respected politician, as I found out at first hand when he stood against me. I am delighted that someone with his energy and talent has joined the Conservative Party. I have appointed him as my adviser on diversity and ethnic minorities.”

In 2003 he was elected as a Labour Councillor in Medway Council, at the age of 24 years. Rehman was born in Pakistan and studied law in Aberystwyth where he was active in student politics. He was called to the bar in 2001 and has worked for some politicians, including Benazir Bhutto the former PM of Pakistan, and Helen Clark. In announcing his decision he said:

“I’m delighted to have joined the Conservative Party. Under David Cameron, the Conservatives provide hope and inspiration to the public at large who have become disillusioned with New Labour. Tony Blair’s Labour Party increasingly takes voters for granted and is out of touch with modern Britain.”

A Labour defection was rumoured over the weekend, and several people on this site registered their objection to whoever it was being parachuted into a safe seat. If he is treated well however, others may consider making the jump. This is excellent news for Cameron two days before his one hundredth day as leader, but there is more to do before we get MPs crossing the floor

Deputy Editor

Survey comments: A list

Today and every day this week we'll be publishing some of the comments that respondents made to January's survey of the ConservativeHome Members' Panel.  You can take February's survey by clicking here.

Today we're publishing ten of your anonymous thoughts on the party's A list of candidates.  Tomorrow they will be about David Cameron.  On Saturday we will publish all one thousand or so comments.

1. I have been a party activist since 1978 and between Thatcher and now pretty unhappy - with Cameron, we're in with a real chance. As a very successful businesswoman (recently retired), I don't like positive discrimination towards women and I don't know anyone who does. We only want to be judged on merit. Thank you.

 

2. The A-list of candidates is a very good idea but I would prefer that it did not specify exact percentages of men and women - it would be better if the commitment were something like at least 30% men, and at least 30% women.

 

3. Make sure we get the best candidate for each constituency regardless of whether they are men or women, even though we still need more women candidates.

Howard Flight is back

Sandra Howard famously said that her husband didn't have a short fuse... he had no fuse at all.  The former Tory leader's temper may have accounted for his shabby treatment of Howard Flight before the last election?  If this morning's Spy is correct - justice might be about to be done...

"The condemnation of former Tory MP Howard Flight's sacking on the eve of last year's general election was virtually universal among his parliamentary colleagues.  So I am interested to hear that the former Arundel MP is well on the road to rehabilitation.  "There's been no great fanfare about it, but Howard has just been put back on to the approved candidates' list," says a party source. "He has also been made president of the Conservative City Circle, where his contacts in the square mile will come in extremely useful.  The only remaining hurdle for him is an interview for a place on the A list of top-notch candidates - but that really ought to be a formality given the circumstances.""

We'll submit Mr Flight to the 'GoldList treatment' soon.  Priti Patel is today's nominee.

(My thanks to Justin Hinchcliffe for drawing my attention to the story).

What should replace trial by sherry?

Adrian Hilton is the fourth prospective Tory candidate to face 'trial by bloggers' this morning - visit the GoldList blog for more...  One thing that candidates won't have to face any longer is trial by sherry.

This morning's Times reports that Bernard Jenkin MP, who has responsibility for candidates at CCHQ, has said that the “beauty parade sherry parties for couples to show how they can work the circuit” had to go.

New selection guidelines are to be issued to Tory associations shortly but are likely to include assessment of ability to chat with voters in supermarkets or at the school gates.

It would be good to hear your own experiences of what works best in selection meetings...?

True Blue Shireen Ritchie to front Priority List

Today's Times notes that Shireen Ritchie is to replace Simon Mort as Chairman of the Candidates' Committee.  The Times suggests that she will "set up" what will be called the Priority List but she'll undoubtedly be doing so in conjunction with Bernard Jenkin, Theresa May and others.

Famous for being Madonna's mother-in-law Mrs Ritchie will help to draw up a list of 200 candidates (much more than originally expected).  Half will be men and half women.  The aim - also different and more modest than first suggested - is to put at least 40 women in the 140 target seats which David Cameron must win to get into Number Ten.

This site's GoldList has not got off the ground this year but will be firing into action from Monday...

David Cameron's different tactical approaches to the EPP and candidates questions

IDS has a letter in today's Times supporting David Cameron on the EPP.  The former Tory leader writes:

"David Cameron won a strong mandate with the clear aim to break with the EPP. He should be allowed to get on with it. The same voices tell us to lead in Europe. I can think of no better way to start than creating a non-federalist centre-right grouping."

Mr Duncan Smith's argument was boosted with a suggestion that Czech centre-right MEPs might also quit the EPP if Tories show the way.

Mr Duncan Smith's intervention will be of mixed value to David Cameron, however.  He probably wishes the issue would go away.  Today was the third day in a row that quitting the EPP was discussed by John Humphrys et al on the Today programme.  Ken Clarke, of course, intervened at the weekend.  Douglas Hurd yesterday.  Caroline Jackson MEP is complaining in an op-ed piece in The Times today.  The decision of Messrs Cameron and Hague to hold months-long consultation on this issue may only cause the debate's protagonists to dig themselves ever deeper into their trenches.

Mr Cameron has certainly acted decisively on candidates.  If his leadership campaign's promise on EPP is subject to consultation there is no such consultation on the candidates' A-list (which featured less prominently in his campaign).  MEPs get consultation.  Marginal seats get an A-list.  The differing approaches have their strengths and weaknesses.  The imposition of the A-list hasn't stopped Simon Heffer and Matthew d'Ancona debating the idea's merits on the pages of today's Telegraph.  A quick decision on the EPP might have meant David Cameron would not have enjoyed a victory honeymoon.  These are difficult tactical decisions but there is no doubt that consultation has been chosen on the question of the EPP and imposition in the case of the A-list.

David Cameron's five point action plan on candidates...

This is on conservatives.com:

"Improving candidate selection: David Cameron's 5-point positive action plan

1. Freeze on all candidate selections while a new system that guarantees diversity, fairness and meritocracy is put in place.

2. Priority list of candidates drawn up for target and Conservative-held seats, comprising the brightest and best candidates, with equal numbers of men and women and a significant proportion of black and ethnic minority candidates, and candidates with disabilities.

3. Full progress check review after three months, and in the unlikely event that further action is required, it will be taken.

4. Intensive programme of headhunting and mentoring to attract the brightest and best women and ethnic minorities to apply to become candidates.

5. Community involvement in candidate selection, either through community panels evaluating candidates, or through primaries."

3.30pm update: Link to full text of David Cameron's speech.

New GoldList blog

Click here for more...

Party Conference is scrapped in package of imminent party reforms

Francis Maude has always been 'the modernisers' moderniser'.  On many previous occasions - as a backbencher - he has called for the Conservative Party to look less white and less male.  He has called for policy changes that show much greater respect for gay people.  He has encouraged more co-operation with Liberal Democrats.  That modernising reputation took a battering during the summer months when he attempted to pass Michael Howard's disenfranchisement of party members in the leadership election.  Since then, however, he has been writing his own ConservativeHome.com blog about a more open Conservative Party.

As David Cameron's Party Chairman Mr Maude has his opportunity to deliver on some of the changes he has always wanted the Conservatives to make.

In today's Telegraph he points the way to three significant changes:

• The replacement of the annual party conference with two weekend mini-conferences in citoies such as Bath, Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle (taking on an idea originally proposed by David Davis).  Mr Maude: "Party conferences should be more accessible for young working people."  It is not clear if 2006's autumn conference will go ahead.  I'll try and establish that later today.

• The creation of a new disciplinary panel for MPs and candidates.
  

• "An A-list of 120 approved candidates, split 50-50 between men and women, for winnable seats... We need a significantly larger number of women in the seats we're going to win... We're not going to solve it all in one day but we need to signal it's a main priority."

Given the news of this 'A-list', ConservativeHome has brought forward the launch of its GoldList blog for today.  Click here to find out more about this new internet exercise in membership empowerment.