Open application followed by shortlisting and an interview is the transparent, fairest and the right way from now on, to find the best person for this role – which requires an exceptional individual.
I always open regional conferences by saying that whenever we Tories get together, we solve problems together…a process which one senior activist imaginatively describes as “cross-wobbling”
Burke, the great Conservative, said “a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation”. He might just as well have been referring to a political party.
We do not have a divine right to govern; we have to earn it as our forebears did. We have been here before and it means doubling down and working harder.