There are many justifiable criticisms of how the Tories ran candidate selection for the last election. On the day that Rishi Sunak headed to the Palace, scores of nominees were still to be chosen, prompting a mad scramble to find 160 candidates in 12 days. Some seats faced accusations of ‘stitch-ups’, including Basildon and Billericay, where the-then party chairman was controversially selected from a shortlist of one. Scores of unknown names had to be parachuted in elsewhere.
The good news for long-suffering members is that this message appears to have been heard by senior Tory figures. An eight-page paper on candidate selection has now been drawn up as part of the Party Review into the 2024 election. The draft paper makes 49 recommendations, currently being circulated among senior Conservatives. Three points are of particular interest. They concern future candidate selections, lessons from the 2019 intake and the possibility of ex-MPs returning next time.
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