Keeping up with the controversy in the local press about the selection on Tory candidates for the new Mid Norfolk seat brings something a a wry smile to my face.
Firstly, local candidates seem to have been virtually shunned from the shortlist, with only 2 of the 18 being described by the EDP as "local". The majority of the rest appear to be "A List" candidates, from the controversial list drawn up by David Cameron's people.
Remember this is the same "A list" that Tory MP Francis Maude only this week described as "biased against men". You may well add, that it is biased in favour of those who have some sort of celebrity status, those who are from or are based in London and against those who are local to the constituencies they wish to serve.
One senior local Tory was quoted in the EDP as saying that the local MP "homegrown", whilst others have opposed the shortlisting of former pin up and pop star Adam Rickett, who has been put on Cameron's list despite apparently having no political experience. This has angered many local Tories in Mid Norfolk who are upset that whilst some London "Luvvies" have been shortlisted, the local leader of Breckland District Council had not been selected.
The one quote that stood out for me though was the Tory County Councillor who wanted a future cabinet member. Personally I would want a very good local MP who wants to serve his or her constiuents well. Having a local MP who is a cabinet minister brings no kudos or extra resources to a constiuency (just see how Norwich South's education services and police gained no advantage from having Charles Clarke as a cabinet minister, whilst the A11 saw little improvement when the Tory transport minister represented South Norfolk), so why is it important, other than to name drop ?
The Tories have missed an opportunity in Mid Norfolk to endorse their local politicians. Failure to select more than two local Tories out of 18 perhaps speaks volume of the quality of Tories in Norfolk as much as anything else.
4 comments:
Fair? Open Minded? Hardly ... typical LibDem spin I'm afriad. You've blown your image wide apart here Nich.
Hardly Antony. I write as someone who is stepping back from politics after May of next year.
I think the Tories have scored an own goal here, which is clearly a view shared by other Tories. I will happily post a number of links from the EDP website which back up the points that I make if you doubt what I have said.
This is not a phenomenon unique to the Tory Party. Many LibDem candidates are not local either, as you well know. What they should do is pcik the best candidate. End of story.
Oh,I agree with you (again). However, it is not that they have nopt chosen a local candidate that I was picking on. It is that Mid Norfolk have suggested, by choosing only two local candidates out of 20, that there are only two Norfolk Tories up to the job.
I cannot speak for the qualities of the Tories chosen, but I saw David Prior at work as a constituency MP, and I am shocked they did not shortlist him.
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