Our MP rejects the "A" team

Deepings MP John Hayes is apparently leading an attack on David Cameron’s plan to get more women and ethnic candidates at the next election.

In an attempt to drag the Conservative Party into the 20th Century, David Cameron came up with a much publicised “A-list” of preferred parliamentary candidates which local Tory constituencies could choose from.

Just over half the “A” list are female and one in ten are from ethnic minorities.

Seems very modest to me, since women make up more than half of the population.

Here in Lincolnshire, all five Tory MPs are men.

You only have to watch Prime Minister's Question Time to see that women are seriously under-represented in Parliament, particularly in the Tory Party.

But the modernisation plan has come under fire from the so-called Cornerstone group of right-wing Conservative MPs chaired by John Hayes.

John described Cameron’s plan as a "bizarre theory of someone who spends too much time with the pseuds and posers of London's chichi set".

He says the “A” list would work against “local” candidates and would mean parachuting in "insubstantial and untested candidates" from London.

Unlike John himself, of course.

Ten years ago was hardly the local choice. He was parachuted in from Nottingham!

Full story at:

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/party-politics/conservatives/tory-right-wingers-attack-camerons-list-$441356.htm