https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/04/05/true-blue-tories-banned-standing-general-election/            True blue Tories ‘banned from standing in the general election’

No 10 accused of purging ‘high-quality’ Right-wing candidates with traditional Conservative values to ensure party is dominated by centrists

Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR and Allison Pearson5 April 2024 • 7:28pm

Former diplomat Aman Bhogal who contested Upper Bann seat in Northern Ireland in 2015 but has not been selected since, said CCHQ was involved in a ‘stitch-up’

Downing Street has been accused of blocking “true blue” Conservative candidates from standing in the general election as it wages a battle for the future of the Tory Party.

Those on the Right of the party believe Rishi Sunak is trying to purge it of those who support low-tax, small-state conservatism so that it will be dominated by centrists after the election.

It would mean that if the Conservatives lose the election and Mr Sunak resigns, he will have already ensured it cannot move to the Right by packing the parliamentary party with One Nation Tories who would reject Right-wing leadership candidates.

Some Tory MPs have expressed despair that high-quality applicants for the list of approved parliamentary candidates are being rejected because of their traditional Conservative values, while those who believe in high taxation and high public spending are put through, even if they lack the requisite skills to be an MP.

It is the latest evidence of the civil war raging within the Conservative Party between those who believe it must move to the Right to combat the growing threat of Reform UK and those who believe the only way to remain electable is to occupy the centre ground.

Applicants who have spoken to The Telegraph describe those in charge of the selection process as “yellow Tories” whose preference is for candidates largely indistinguishable from Liberal Democrats.

They describe a clear anti-Brexit bias among those who interview applicants and complain that rather than being grilled on Conservative values, they are asked multiple questions about promoting diversity.

If the Tories lose the election and Sunak quits as party leader, he can determine what his successor inherits by controlling the list of potential parliamentary candidates CREDIT: UK Parliament/Maria Unger

Aman Bhogal, a former diplomat who contested the Upper Bann seat in Northern Ireland in 2015 but has not been selected since, said the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) was involved in a “stitch-up” by blocking Right-wingers from making it onto constituency shortlists.

He said: “In the past, you were asked to talk about your Conservative values and your Conservative ideals, but that has all changed. Now it’s ‘tell us about how you have promoted diversity and how you have addressed white privilege’.”

CCHQ is in charge of the approved candidates list, with a handful of people wielding immense control over who is accepted and who is rejected.

Among those who would like to be a Tory MP is Lord Frost, the former Brexit negotiator, who has made it clear he would renounce his peerage to sit in the Commons.

Although he has not made any public comment, The Telegraph understands he has been blocked by CCHQ from applying for seats in the Commons.

Lord Frost is a critic of the party’s policy direction under the Prime Minister, and one Sunak loyalist suggested he was not being considered because “he is a member of the House of Lords who is also trying to remove the Party leader”.

David Campbell Bannerman, a former Conservative MEP who has been on the approved list of candidates since 2019, says he is being blocked from progressing to the long list for any particular seat “because I wasn’t being nice enough about Rishi Sunak”.

David Campbell Bannerman

He said: “The whole thing is fixed. It’s pretty blatant and undemocratic. The members have woken up to it and are pushing back against it because they are not getting the choice of candidates that they want.

“This is not about me but about the wider system. It is happening to a whole range of good candidates who are left mystified, let down and driven out of the party. It’s all about power and control and a lack of democracy letting the people down.”

Another candidate who has been overlooked said: “Essentially, true blue Conservative candidates are just campaign fodder, people who will shove leaflets through doors – CCHQ has no serious intention of letting them stand in a winnable seat, if at all. They only want candidates who are One Nation Conservatives and it’s no wonder we are getting a low calibre of new MPs coming through.

“When I applied for a seat, the chairman of the local association rang me and said they wanted me to be their candidate, but of course, I was blocked by CCHQ.

“If, like me, you’re pro-Brexit, tough on immigration and want low tax, CCHQ see you as a repulsive headbanger. Too many in the party might as well be Liberal Democrats.”

Problems with the selection process have been blamed for MP defections in recent years, including former Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston and former South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen, both of whom jumped ship to Change UK and then the Lib Dems, and former Wokingham MP Phillip Lee, who defected to the Lib Dems.

To date, 63 Conservative MPs have announced they are standing down at the election. The record number of Conservatives who have stood down from Parliament in a single term is 75, which was set in the run-up to the 1997 election.

A YouGov poll earlier this month suggested the Tories could suffer their biggest-ever electoral defeat, with Mr Sunak on course to retain just 155 seats, ten fewer than Sir John Major was left with after Labour’s 1997 landslide.

A CCHQ source said: “These claims have no basis in fact. It’s obviously a bit difficult for candidates who attack the party leader to be selected given they will be asking constituents to cast their votes for him to be Prime Minister.

“But the idea that people are not being put forward because of some ideological bent is totally false. This is the PM who is cutting taxes, bringing in major immigration curbs, curbing the excessive elements of net zero and trying to get illegal immigrants sent to Rwanda. That’s hardly some Left-wing agenda.”

---

‘CCHQ is obsessed with diversity’

By Gordon Rayner, Associate Editor

When Gary Pound* made his way to the basement of Conservative Campaign Headquarters for his candidate selection interview, he was preparing himself for questions about law and order, immigration and taxation.

He need not have bothered. During a one-hour interrogation in a glass-walled box, the primary focus was on diversity, not politics.

Mr Pound had once been considered such an outstanding candidate that he was on a priority list, making him eligible to apply for any vacant constituency. This time, though, he did not make it onto the list at all.

“They were just obsessed with diversity,” said Mr Pound, a successful businessman who has been a committed and active member of the Conservative Party since university. “They wanted to know what I had done to promote diversity within the party and within politics generally.

“Most Conservatives are meritocrats so they just want the best people, regardless of their sex or ethnicity, but it’s clear they are no longer picking people on merit.

“It also seemed clear that if you voted for Brexit, like me, your card was marked.

“It seems the party is being purged of true believers in Conservative values, and the people that should be Liberal Democrats who have infiltrated the party are taking over.”

MPs and party insiders have expressed deep misgivings about the candidate selection process, which has long-term implications for the Tory Party and the direction it is taking.

The growing row over who will stand in the next election is regarded by some as a symptom of how dysfunctional the Conservative Party has become as different factions wrestle for control over its uncertain future.

Even if he loses the election and quits as party leader, Rishi Sunak can determine what sort of party his successor inherits by controlling the list of potential parliamentary candidates.

Constituency associations have the final say over who stands as their parliamentary candidate, usually choosing from a short list of three or four, but CCHQ can block Right-wing candidates so that only One Nation Conservatives, as the centrists call themselves, are put forward.

The CCHQ gatekeepers include Gareth Fox, chief of staff to the chairman of the candidates committee, a Remainer who was tasked by David Cameron with making the party more diverse, and Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, who co-founded Women2Win with Theresa May almost 20 years ago with the aim of increasing the number of female Tory MPs.

Baroness Jenkin of Kennington is one of the CCHQ gatekeepers CREDIT: Julian Simmonds for The Telegraph

Other influential figures include Matt Wright, chairman of the candidates committee; Matt Lane, director of candidates, and long-term No 10 fixer Dougie Smith, who helps to vet candidates and acts as a liaison between Downing Street and the candidates committee.

Would-be MPs must submit a written application, which is followed by due diligence checks and then an interview in front of a Parliamentary Assessment Board, usually comprising two people, one of whom may be a sitting MP.

Those who pass are entered onto the approved list of candidates, which is subdivided into those on the comprehensive list, who can apply for any seat that comes up; the key list, who can usually only apply for the seat where they live, and the development list, which means they will be considered for unwinnable seats where they can gain experience of campaigning.

So far, 63 Conservative MPs have already announced they will step down at the election, meaning candidates are now being selected to stand in their constituencies.

People who apply to be considered for a particular seat are considered by the candidates committee, which produces a long list and then works with the local association to whittle the list down to a shortlist of three or four in a process known as sifting.

Aman Bhogal, a 39-year-old former diplomat and founder of the Global Britain Centre, which campaigns for free trade and free enterprise post-Brexit, also believes he has been snubbed because of his Brexiteer credentials.

He said: “I joined the party when I was still at school and I once worked out that I have spent about 14,000 hours campaigning by knocking on doors, distributing leaflets and so on.

“In the past when I have been interviewed by a Parliamentary Assessment Board I have been asked about my Conservative ideals, but now it’s all about diversity.

“You are asked how you would promote inter-racial harmony and the answer they’re looking for is that you would take the knee with Black Lives Matter.

“It’s rotten and it’s shoddy. Along with a lot of other people I am thinking of switching to Reform.”

Mr Bhogal said that after trying and failing to get onto the shortlist for 15 different constituencies, he met Mr Fox and Mr Lane to ask them what he was doing wrong.

He said: “I was told my application was perfect and what they call my political footprint was spot on, but that I wasn’t getting people to call in and support me.

“They said, ‘who do you know in the Cabinet?’ and told me to get Cabinet ministers to call association chairmen putting me forward. I walked out very saddened.”

Mr Bhogal believes he has been blocked because he campaigned for Brexit and backed Liz Truss for the Tory leadership.

He said: “Bear in mind that two-thirds of the party members voted for Liz Truss to be leader, so if they are alienating all of those people that’s not creating a unified party at all.”

The process of sifting candidates can be short-circuited by CCHQ in the case of a by-election when a candidate needs to be chosen quickly. In those circumstances, CCHQ can impose a shortlist on an association, which might contain only one truly viable candidate, meaning the system can be gamed.

One person on the approved list of candidates claimed some MPs who have already decided to stand down are being told to wait until the election is called before announcing their retirement so CCHQ can use the by-election rules to impose its own candidates on local associations.

Some of those might include current MPs tempted to do a “chicken run” to a safer seat than their own, or MPs whose seats are being abolished under boundary changes that will take effect at the election.

A Tory councillor who holds a Cabinet position on his local authority said: “There is a gulf between what the membership wants and what the party hierarchy wants.

“The odd thing when I applied was the number of ex-Liberal Democrats that were applying, and it was quite clear that that was the type of person they were looking for.”

Wendy Whittaker-Large, a property investor from Cheshire who was rejected after saying she was a small state, low-tax Tory, agrees. She said: “The people who were getting through were those who believe in high taxes and high public spending – basically Lib Dems.”

A scientist who was taken off the list after 10 years said they were told by Mr Fox that they “were not political enough” after saying they did not agree with the Government’s response to Covid.

A barrister who was rejected by CCHQ said: “The Left wing of the party is in charge and they won’t let anyone else in. But the mistake is that the country and the party need both wings of the party.”

*Some names have been changed to protect the anonymity of those who spoke to the Telegraph

Even a young Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t get on the candidate list in today’s Tory Party       Even a young Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t get on the candidate list in today’s Tory Party

Even a young Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t get on the candidate list in tod… Excellent Conservatives are being overlooked in favour of midwit ministerial favourites

Excellent Conservatives are being overlooked in favour of midwit ministerial favourites

ALLISON PEARSON5 April 2024 • 8:28pm

The policies and values that motivated Margaret Thatcher are not welcome in today’s Conservative Party CREDIT: Getty/Tim Graham

As the country hurtles towards the alarming prospect of a Labour government so dominant the Opposition should comfortably fit in three minibuses, true-blue Conservatives find themselves crying out for a Mrs Thatcher to take the wheel. How cruelly ironic, then, to discover that were Margaret Hilda Roberts to put herself forward as a candidate today, she would be rejected by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ). Too Thatcherite, don’t you know.

Astonishingly, a Telegraph investigation has revealed that excellent candidates who share the beliefs that used to unite the Tory faithful are being overlooked in favour of midwit ministerial favourites and Sunak sycophants who wouldn’t know a tough immigration policy if it mugged them.

True blue Tories ‘banned from standing in the general election’ No 10 accused of purging ‘high-quality’ Right-wing candidates with traditional Conservative values to ensure par…

CCHQ denies this. But successful small-business people, a barrister and an epidemiologist are among those who have told us that, during their assessment at Tory central office, they gathered their sort was not wanted. Even though it was precisely their sort – pro-Brexit, strong borders, smaller state, low taxation – that secured a great election victory in 2019.

And, no, this is not just sour grapes. Passionate Tories with impeccable credentials, like Aman Bhogal and David Campbell Bannerman (a former member of the European Parliament for goodness’ sake), find themselves sidelined in favour of Davina Dripping-Wett, a parliamentary aide with no proven experience but a willingness to genuflect before the leftist creed of diversity and inclusion that is cordially loathed by any actual Conservative.

Ms Dripping-Wett is allowed to contest a seat because she is easily controlled by the cabal of senior Tory Social Democrats who, we are told, are plotting to exclude the Right of the party after the general election annihilation. A bit like putting the cowboy builders who left a gaping hole in your roof, and brown stuff spewing out of your sewer, in charge of future restorations.

With Reform UK surging in the polls on a centre-Right manifesto, and with clear evidence in recent by-elections that lifelong Tories feel too betrayed by vapid Lib-Demmery to vote Conservative, you might have thought it would be a teeny bit tone deaf to install yet more “One Nation” types as candidates. But no. Incredibly, that is the yellow Tories’ plan. And they are getting away with it on the sly. Like a magician’s audience, Tory party members are given the illusion of choice, but on too many occasions the “correct card” has been picked for them.

Another cunning ruse is to leave a lot of current “safe” seats without a candidate (Basildon and Billericay, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Chatham and Aylesford, Solihull West etc) unfilled for months. An endangered minister, no matter how useless or unpopular, will be parachuted in at the last minute. What’s that, you can’t stand Jeremy Hunt? Tough.

True blues aren’t allowed anywhere near a members’ vote, just in case the silly old Conservatives make the “wrong” decision.

One Telegraph reader who has asked not to be identified has told me he has the enthusiastic support of his local association, but CCHQ has blocked him from the approved candidates list. There are words for this, and none of them is democracy.

Give us policies we want

Once the trounced Rishi has departed for California, the centrist MPs who, if things go according to plan, will dominate what is left of the parliamentary party, will block any leadership candidates on the Right. Even though they are the ones who will take us out of the ECHR and slash legal immigration – the policies most Conservatives, indeed most people, in Britain want.

How arrogant, how repellently devious and condescendingly de haut-en-bas. What a final kick in the teeth for Conservatives who have generously donated money and time to advance a cause that is precious to them, but nothing more than a vehicle to power for the believe-nothing, Nick Clegg tribute band.

As for Lord Frost, I can hardly express the depths of my disgust at CCHQ’s alleged treatment of him. There is a reason why Conservative gatherings around the country are packed when David Frost is the guest. He speaks for millions of us who feel politically homeless. In his weekly column in this newspaper, more in sadness than in anger, Lord Frost has patiently tried to give Downing Street constructive advice on how to avoid driving the party off a cliff. He says nothing that the opinion polls aren’t already shouting. He cares about the future of his party, and his country. Nonetheless, it seems he has been banned from putting himself forward as a candidate by a couple of cocky, unelected Sunak apparatchiks who exercise vast influence over the composition of the parliamentary party. The same geniuses who picked the online-dating flasher William Wragg.

Jeremy Hunt defends William Wragg after Westminster honeytrap scandal Chancellor is one of two Government members to support fellow Tory MP after he handed over colleagues’ phone num…

Given a choice between Lord Frost and Davina Dripping-Wett, who are disillusioned Conservatives more likely to turn out to vote for? But they won’t be given that choice. On purpose. Because internal party victory is now more important than trying to win the great ideological struggle.

Remember this: “The process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for consensus?’”

Now, that was a prime minister. If the yellow Tories reckon they can get away with banning true-blue Maggies from standing as Conservatives, they better think again. We see your game. And we are going to take her party back.