John Moss is a campaign manager with College Green Group and helps candidates seeking selection to stand at all levels. He is Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency chairman, an elected councillor and a former GLA and parliamentary candidate.
We expect the Conservative Party to begin selecting candidates for their most winnable seats very shortly after the May elections.
With 250 constituencies likely to be in their sights – and possibly another 50 that they will need to defend where the sitting MPs may or may not stand again – the Party will have to crack on if it is to meet its stated aim of having all its target seat candidates in place by the end of 2027.
The first prospective future MPs have now been added to the Party’s ‘Approved List’ after completing the four-stage assessment process. So what should they, and those who will be added over the coming months, be doing now to give themselves the best chance of being selected?
The first thing to note is a rock-solid commitment from the new Chair of the Committee on Candidates, Clare Hambro, that local members will choose their candidates. Without a boundary review to complicate matters and, hopefully, no snap election likely, there is no reason why they should not be able to stick to this commitment.
There is also likely to be a change to the format for how members express their preference, switching away from a single members’ meeting where only those attending in person can vote, to the process used for selecting mayoral candidates last year. This involves candidates in the final stage attending a number of in-person and online hustings meetings, with members receiving a pitch from the candidates. The actual vote will then be done online (or by post for those without an email address).
This should prevent candidates who may not be local and who lack long-standing connections and a thick address book, from being unduly disadvantaged.
To get to that stage though, those seeking selection will have to get past an initial ‘paper sift’. This will again be done by local members, but a larger panel is being suggested, rather than the five-strong one used in the last parliament. Again, Hambro has committed to ensuring all applications are sent to the local members and that there will be no ‘leaning on’ from the CCHQ Candidates Team.
The panel will choose eight people (and two reserves) to go forward for an interview by a ‘Selection Council’. As with the paper sift, this is expected to be a larger group than last time. They will whittle the long list down to at least three candidates to go through to the final stage.
The changes suggest that the process of applying, being interviewed, and going through hustings, before getting to the final vote, may well take longer. It may also be the case that candidates are given more opportunities to engage with local members between the formal stages. All this suggests that the Party wants members to have as much chance as possible to measure the proverbial teeth of those seeking selection.
Applicants will therefore need to do their homework on constituencies, build local networks, and understand local priorities and political nuances. They will need to have a public profile as a prospective candidate online, which whilst probably not seat-specific, should certainly not contradict what your application form says.
You will need to prepare your opening remarks to the selection council and be ready for a gruelling Q&A. Moving beyond that stage potentially means attending multiple meetings, both in person and online. The time commitment involved also needs to be considered.
Getting selected is as much of a campaign as fighting for election. Applicants should think of it in similar terms. You are not going to be handed a list of members in the same way as you get a list of electors in a public election, but you will still have to find the people who might vote for you, persuade them to vote for you, and make sure they do vote for you.
All good training for the real thing!
John Moss is a campaign manager with College Green Group and helps candidates seeking selection to stand at all levels. He is Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency chairman, an elected councillor and a former GLA and parliamentary candidate.
We expect the Conservative Party to begin selecting candidates for their most winnable seats very shortly after the May elections.
With 250 constituencies likely to be in their sights – and possibly another 50 that they will need to defend where the sitting MPs may or may not stand again – the Party will have to crack on if it is to meet its stated aim of having all its target seat candidates in place by the end of 2027.
The first prospective future MPs have now been added to the Party’s ‘Approved List’ after completing the four-stage assessment process. So what should they, and those who will be added over the coming months, be doing now to give themselves the best chance of being selected?
The first thing to note is a rock-solid commitment from the new Chair of the Committee on Candidates, Clare Hambro, that local members will choose their candidates. Without a boundary review to complicate matters and, hopefully, no snap election likely, there is no reason why they should not be able to stick to this commitment.
There is also likely to be a change to the format for how members express their preference, switching away from a single members’ meeting where only those attending in person can vote, to the process used for selecting mayoral candidates last year. This involves candidates in the final stage attending a number of in-person and online hustings meetings, with members receiving a pitch from the candidates. The actual vote will then be done online (or by post for those without an email address).
This should prevent candidates who may not be local and who lack long-standing connections and a thick address book, from being unduly disadvantaged.
To get to that stage though, those seeking selection will have to get past an initial ‘paper sift’. This will again be done by local members, but a larger panel is being suggested, rather than the five-strong one used in the last parliament. Again, Hambro has committed to ensuring all applications are sent to the local members and that there will be no ‘leaning on’ from the CCHQ Candidates Team.
The panel will choose eight people (and two reserves) to go forward for an interview by a ‘Selection Council’. As with the paper sift, this is expected to be a larger group than last time. They will whittle the long list down to at least three candidates to go through to the final stage.
The changes suggest that the process of applying, being interviewed, and going through hustings, before getting to the final vote, may well take longer. It may also be the case that candidates are given more opportunities to engage with local members between the formal stages. All this suggests that the Party wants members to have as much chance as possible to measure the proverbial teeth of those seeking selection.
Applicants will therefore need to do their homework on constituencies, build local networks, and understand local priorities and political nuances. They will need to have a public profile as a prospective candidate online, which whilst probably not seat-specific, should certainly not contradict what your application form says.
You will need to prepare your opening remarks to the selection council and be ready for a gruelling Q&A. Moving beyond that stage potentially means attending multiple meetings, both in person and online. The time commitment involved also needs to be considered.
Getting selected is as much of a campaign as fighting for election. Applicants should think of it in similar terms. You are not going to be handed a list of members in the same way as you get a list of electors in a public election, but you will still have to find the people who might vote for you, persuade them to vote for you, and make sure they do vote for you.
All good training for the real thing!