“A-List (Conservative)”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Conservative A-List or Priority List was a list of United Kingdom candidates drawn up by Conservative Central Office at the behest of David Cameron after his election as party leader in December 2005, aimed as a means of broadening the number of Conservative Members of Parliament, potential Peers of the Realm and MEPs from minority groups and women as well as other preferred candidates for candidature. Where the preferred forums for selection were held at least two members from the list were put to every open primary, and where these were not held the A-list were recommended directly, particularly to the top target seats.

History

In April 2006, a Conservative Party committee on candidates set out to deliver a promise by David Cameron to transform the Conservative party at Westminster. The committee reduced 500 aspiring politicians on the party's list of approved parliamentary candidates to an "A-list" of between 100 and 150 priority candidates.^[1] The result was a list on which more than half of the names were of women. The list included the former Coronation Street actor Adam Rickitt, the non-domiciled son of a billionaire Zac Goldsmith, the author Louise Bagshawe (later Mensch), and Margot James.^[2]

Amid controversy the "A-list" approach was endorsed by Michael Portillo, a Conservative MP until 2005, who in 2006 said that {{cquote|[based on current membership]...much of the Parliamentary Party is reactionary and unattractive to voters.^[3]}} Conservative chairmen and activists in seats considered potentially winnable were in the run-up to the 2010 election urged by Conservative Central Office to select candidates from the new A-list and were in many cases included in open primaries, new and preferred open-to-all selection meetings.^[4]

The 2010 general election saw failures as well as successes for the "A-listers" selected for 'winnable' seats. Success was epitomised by, for example, Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, but failure by Joanne Cash, Philippa Stroud and Shaun Bailey.^[5]

Listed

Those on the 'A' List included the following: ^{'*' marks people chosen for seats that were Conservative before 2010} ^[6]^[7]^[8]

Notes and references

Notes

1. ^Will Woodward and Tania Branigan, [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/apr/19/uk.conservatives The A-list: new leader's drive for women and minority candidates] in The Guardian, 19 April 2006
2. ^Will Woodward, chief political correspondent, [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/may/11/uk.media "Former soap star on Cameron's A-list of Tory candidates"] in The Guardian, 11 May 2006
3. ^Michael Portillo, Cameron's A-list could give Tories the X factor in The Sunday Times dated 30 July 2006, online
4. ^A-list 'not snubbing' NE England dated 20 October 2006 at bbc.co.uk
5. ^Carol Driver, What happened to Cameron's A-listers? Zac Goldsmith wins... but 'Cutie' Cash fails dated 7 May 2010 at dailymail.co.uk
6. ^Rosemary Bennett, "The A-list" in The Times dated 12 June 2006, at timesonline.co.uk
7. ^Who is on the A-list? at conservativehome web site
8. ^Conservative A-List and selections {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328220043/http://colin-ross.org.uk/news/000729/conservative_alist_and_selections.html |date=28 March 2010 }} dated 4 June 2006 at colin-ross.org.uk
9. ^Robin Brant, A year on, has the A-list worked? at BBC.co.uk dated December 2006

History

Listed

Notes and references

Notes

References