From the Right Side

Like most many people I am desperate for an end to Gordon Brown's premiership, and for the disastrous New Labour 'project' to be consigned to the dustbin of history. That means that when the General Election arrives, I shall vote Conservative. But I shall be holding my nose when I do.

There is a great deal to admire in the 'modern Conservative Party'. I'm thinking in particular of Michael Gove's proposals for education reform, and of the influence of Alan Duncan Smith in social policy. There is also a great deal that is vacuous and, quite simply, wrong.

The latest example is David Cameron's announcement at today's Speaker's Conference that he will impose all-women shortlists in the name of 'representativeness'.

We need to make sure that the conversation we have within the Conservative Party and the conversation we have within Parliament is like the conversation that's going on in the rest of the country

In order to achieve this equality of 'conversation', he will intervene in the selection of candidates by local constituencies:

It's my intention...that some of those shortlists will be all-women shortlists to help us boost the number of Conservative women MPs

If he were really interested in the question of 'representativeness', he would be more concerned with ensuring that the Conservative Party and its policies more accurately reflect the opinions of the electorate, rather than their gender composition; he would be more interested in representing the electorate's views on immigration, crime and Europe, amongst other things, rather than in replacing the unlamented Blair's Babes with Cameron's Cuties.