With Nadhim finally stepped down as MP, the local Conservative Association is the body that will ultimately choose the next official Conservative Party candidate for Stratford-upon-Avon, with more than a little help from Conservative Party Central Office (CCHQ).
But the Conservative Party’s candidate selection process is far from transparent. Even most local party members have little clue how the final list of names they are given is put together.
Stratford CAN believes local people in a safe seat like Stratford have the right know how their Conservative Party candidate is selected. So, we have compiled a short guide to the whole process works. *
The selection of a candidate begins with the advertisement of the seat by CCHQ to the select group of people who are on the Conservative Party Candidates List. Anyone interested will have to submit an application form and their CV.
Because Stratford is viewed as a safe seat, it will not be open to everyone on the candidates list to apply for, but only those with what’s known as a ‘full pass’ – in other words, the candidates that party officials at CCHQ in London favour. This often excludes popular local candidates who are not viewed favourably by head office.
All CVs and applications received will then be sent to the local association, which will appoint a ‘Selection Committee’ which is usually made up of a handful of members of the Executive Committee who run the Association. Sometimes the Executive Committee just appoints itself as the Selection Committee.
In Stratford’s case, this is likely to largely comprise the same small group of people who approved Nadhim’s re-selection as a candidate last year, (although we note the Association has recently appointed a new Chair and Deputy Chair Political).
Nadhim himself is also likely to be on the Selection Committee.
This Selection Committee will sift the CVs to produce a long-list of approved candidates. This is the stage where local candidates often miss out. Being active politically often results in making enemies as well as friends and if you don’t have a good relationship with people on the selection committee, you often won’t end up on the candidate long-list.
This is also the stage where Nadhim (and others keen to ingratiate themselves with CCHQ) will be able to promote any outsider candidate that CCHQ wants to get this seat. Perhaps they will explain that a particular candidate is “a real talent” and “a future Cabinet Minister”. They may even go so far as to say, “it would be really helpful if they were included on the long-list”.
It is unlikely that anyone will be advanced because they are viewed as a potentially strong and effective local MP.
Once the long-list is agreed, the next stage is interviews. Long-listed candidates will be asked to give a speech to the Association Executive Committee and to answer questions. Local candidates often do ok at this stage. Outsiders who CCHQ want to get the seat, will often also be surprisingly well briefed on the questions they receive.
The Executive Committee will then vote to reduce the long-list to a three-person (usually) shortlist. This vote is secret and conducted by a supposedly impartial agent sent from CCHQ who will count the ballots and then take them away.
Unsurprisingly, external candidates favoured by CCHQ usually make the short list. (There are recorded instances where ballots have been accidentally left and it has been found that the CCHQ agent is not brilliant at counting). It is also not unusual for a favoured candidate to be joined on the shortlist by two weaker candidates as a way to clear the path to selection.
The final stage is the all-member selection where every member of the Association will get to vote on the three shortlisted candidates. This session is moderated by a CCHQ official.
Each candidate will give a speech followed by questions. These are usually asked by the moderator. Sometimes Party members can ask pre-agreed questions. All three candidates get a chance to respond to each question.
It is not unusual for the CCHQ moderator to give more leeway to favoured candidates, cut other candidates off part-way through their answer, or even make unexpected comments themselves during this process.
Members will then vote. If one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, they win automatically. If not, the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated, and members vote again until there is a clear winner.
This final stage is the only one where CCHQ cannot interfere, and a local candidate can succeed. Too often, the best local candidates do not make it this far.
The timeline for candidate selection in Stratford in unknown and is unlikely to be announced publicly.
But, if CCHQ waits until closer to the General Election (or the Party Board decides to), it can the impose by-election rules. This allows CCHQ to choose a three-person (or two-person, or sometimes even one-person) shortlist without any local input with local association members having to choose between the three candidates put in front of them.
This by-election process is how Stratford ended up with Nadhim and John Maples before him.
Stratford CAN will be doing all we can to shine a light on this opaque process and we hope Stratford Conservatives choose a strong local candidate who will prioritise the needs of local people.
But if they don’t, or CCHQ forces an outsider into the nomination, Stratford CAN will run a local conservative candidate against them.
*This is the standard candidate selection process in the Conservative Party. If Stratford Conservatives are following a variation of this process to select their new Parliamentary candidate, or if there are any inaccuracies in this article, please contact info@stratfordcan.org and we will be more than happy to correct the record.