The Conservatives have overhauled their candidates procedures – here’s what would-be MPs should prepare for.
Politics should be about serving, not climbing. And if the Conservative Party wants to renew itself, it must start by asking: who are we elevating, and why?
What matters most is who we select, when, and how, and whether we give them the time and local backing to actually build something.
In order for the Conservative Party to be in shape to win and govern in 2029, Kemi needs to get a grip on the Candidates Team.
Leaving the ECHR is a manifesto commitment, she says, and “if people don’t like that then no they cannot be MPs”.
If you want to be an MP, you should want to do something with that honour. Right now you have the opportunity to showcase this to the Party before you get to the nitty gritty of a parliamentary assessment or constituency selection – the Party’s Policy Review.
The party needs operatives fired up to cure our nation’s ailments, rather than spokesmen for managed decline. It needs more from its candidates that simple proof of life; it needs proof of fire.
Despite their efforts to date, the leadership has not yet convinced party members. 47 per cent of our PopCon panel believe that the internal reform of the party is going either quite or very poorly, while 42 per cent don’t know. Only 1 per cent of our panel considered the internal reform to be going very well.
We need to select candidates who can be champions for their local areas but who, in time, can serve in a radical, transforming government once again, too.
But he does show how Tory MPs fell out of love with Johnson, and could not win with the irreproachable Sunak.
An Association given the choice of 3 candidates, one of which is there to make up the numbers will not result in the activists being engaged and happy to help when needed.
We have ended up with a consequence-free culture amongst some Conservative MPs, where bad behaviour doesn’t harm your prospects, and good doesn’t improve them.
We’re excited to announce the launch of the Conservatives Together Fellowship, a new six-month programme designed to create better campaigners and future leaders that will transform how we approach elections.
Starmer’s majority is shallow and brittle. Early candidate selections in the right seats should be one of the most obvious marginal gains, in the style of Dave Brailsford’s Team Sky cycling squad.
The next Conservative revival won’t arrive in a briefing note or a clever line. It will come, slowly and unglamorously, from people willing to do the hard work.