Dinah Glover: Our leader has handed the party a proper Conservative blueprint, but are the candidates team onboard?

Dinah Glover is the former London East Area Chairman and a former Chairman of two Constituency Associations.

The whole Conservative Party sighed a huge collective breath of relief after Kemi’s speech on Wednesday.

It was full of excellent policy announcements and importantly Kemi unleashed her personality on us. I certainly believe she has earned a stay of execution.

However she does have 119 MPs behind her who now need to pull their weight and in fact most of the Shadow Cabinet need to raise their heads above the parapet. We only ever seem to hear from Robert Jenrick, Chris Philp, Mel Stride and occasionally Andrew Griffith.

Kemi has now given them enough red meat to bite on.

They need to get out there and make the case for Conservatism; leaving the ECHR, scrapping NetZero targets, abolishing Stamp Duty on primary residences etc. It is joked amongst us on the right of the Party that at least a third of the current Parliamentary Party are Liberal Democrats, in which case they may be reluctant to scream our policies from the rooftops. To quote Liz Truss, ‘don’t they realise there are actual Liberal Democrats!’

Well if there are that many of our MPs who are not fully on board with the project, we have to ensure that next time our Parliamentary Party is fully Conservative.

Candidates need to be put through their paces so we understand their views, philosophy, able to debate cogently, have the ability to have original policy ideas, as well as be a good campaigner and constituency MP which, to be honest, is the easy bit.

It is crucial we build this talent for the future.

It can be argued that the most ‘dangerous’ man in the Conservative Party has been Gareth Fox, the former Head of Candidates. He stands accused by many of ensuring that only ‘soft’ or One Nation Conservatives got selected to seats. He seems to have delivered a Parliamentary Party which is a Liberal Democrat tribute act, no wonder they are all so silent.

The Rt Hon Grant Shapps has set up Conservative Together – I think he prefers the cooler name CTog – for potential candidates.

I find it worrying that its mainstay seems to be campaigning, delivering more nonsensical leaflets and probably a re-run of Team 2015 and we all know where that ended up! I do hope that we can produce a more intellectual grouping of our candidates to allow them to explore their ideas, passions, philosophies and test out ideas for Government. Surely that would be more likely to lead to a Conservative Government that can deliver.

My warning to the Party is clear:

The Candidates Committee needs to be at the forefront of providing the talent for ‘Our Great Comeback’.

I have severe reservations this is the case.

In the interest of transparency I was a Parliamentary Assessor of 4 years standing but was sacked back in late June by the Hon Clare Hambro, Current Chairman of the Candidates Committee for being too political.

I had always been told how highly valued I was as an Assessor, especially since my background was as a Recruiter, so I brought all those skills to the table. The very odd point is that after I was sacked, I submitted a Subject Access Request to the Candidates Team about myself. There was literally no evidence to sack me; not one complaint against me. When I asked Clare if she had viewed the recordings of my interviews, she said she had not. She was literally basing her decision on no evidence whatsoever, just the say so of her Deputy, who is a committed Remainiac.

Having myself worked closely with the ERG during the Brexit battles and led the Voluntary Party petition against Theresa May for attempting to deliver a non-Brexit Brexit; I can only assume my sacking was political. Since then, I have asked our Chairman what the process is to have my case reviewed. Silence was the reply. I have also asked Julian Ellacott, with the same reply.

My huge concern is the quality of the Candidates Committee going forward.

After Kemi has delivered her barnstorming speech, LOTO needs to ensure she has a team behind her fit for purpose.

During the last Parliamentary session I always felt the assessments were a little too much geared towards recruiting Project Managers rather than politicians. I understand the current team wants to make the process more political and combative which is a move in the right direction. However, that’s where my confidence stops. I understand that right wing former MPs went for the role of Chairman of the Candidates Committee. Instead it went to the Hon Clare Hambro, a former London Region Chairman, who I have never heard espouse a political opinion and strikes me as an obedient party loyalist. I fear it’s a consolation prize for not getting the Vice President role of the National Conservative Convention.

I would also question her judgement, having sat on a panel with her when Edmond Yeo, who it subsequently turns out allegedly has links to the China, applied to be a London Assembly candidate, but was rejected as he came unprepared and dressed in joggers and t-shirt. Clare as she knew him, begged us to change our minds, luckily, we didn’t.

Kemi has complained, in Government we talked Right and governed Left.

The Candidates Committee appears to be making the same mistake.

The Conservative Party should be the home of conservative thought, economic soundness, individual freedom, rolling back the state, opposing woke, securing our borders and patriotism. We need a Parliamentary party totally committed to these ideals. My sacking is just one example that the Candidates Committee may not be signed up to the same ideals.

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. If she does not the alternative is that our Parliamentary party remains a weak imitation of the Liberal Democrats.

That is not a route to power.