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Saturday, June 03, 2006
Final Three For Bromley & Chislehurst
ConservativeHome is reporting that Bromley & Chislehurst Conservatives have whittled down their shortlist of ten to three, who will face a meeting of the whole Association tonight. The three are said to be Bob Neill, Julia Manning and Syed Kamall. Carroll Forth sadly didn't make it. My experience of these situations is that the local candidate will need to win a majority on the first round of voting. If Bob Neill fails to do that tonight, one of the others will come through the middle. This happened when I was in the final three in Beverley. Robert Goodwill was the local MEP and had been expected to walk it. I remember whispering saying to Graham Stuart that whichever one of us came second to him in the first round would win. Happily for Graham, it was him!
Two 'A' listers and a local, could not be better.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, there were the strongest 3 on the shortlist. I expect that CCHQ will be happy with any one of them
ReplyDeleteSo now we have the result, and it's Bob Neill. Bob has been active in London for ages (notably as Greater London Area Chairman), including a big stint in the voluntary Party before his Assembly days, and is a solid performer (I'll forgive him his pro-Euro views!)
ReplyDeleteI have the highest respect too for Syed, and he'll surely get a seat to fight at the General Election. Likewise for Julia - a really nice person who'll be a great asset to the Party and fully deserves her place on the A-list.
People on Conservative Home have suggested that CCHQ will be upset by the result. Why? Bob is a solid safe pair of hands and well-respected, unlike some of the loony local Council candidates who were in danger of being selected. And if he does fail, the idea of Cameron's A-list will be to some extent vindicated.
So it's win-win! Well done, Bob. Let's all go and support him.
Ultimately, the safe choice.
ReplyDeleteYes that is a blow against the A-list! Well done to the party in Chislehurst. This will show Dave that he cannot bully the membership into swallowing the modernisation agenda. Let's hope he doesn't try to force this issue any more, otherwise his leadership will run into big difficulties.
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