The excellent reports today that the Conservative Party has launched an investigation into its candidate selection process for the upcoming Police and Crime Commissioner elections in November.

Eventual West Mids Tory candidate Matt Bennet was elected after a series of public meetings in July, narrowly beating rival Joe Tildesley in a process that was notably short on clarity, as we noted here.

TOTC blogger Sam Chapman writes:

Matt Bennett, who won the selection, didn’t want to say anything on the subject. Joe Tildesley, the runner-up, gave an answer that was a tad more revealing:- “‘I have been sworn to secrecy and told in no uncertain terms that I am not to speak to the press. I have submitted some paperwork to the party but I am not prepared to say anything more at this time”.

Chapman claims party insiders have told him the investigation arose after a number of concerns were brought to officials. They include:

• some people being excluded from the public meetings
• candidates seeking to fill the meetings with supporters
• a lack of organisation at the meetings
• a lack of clarity on whether attendees needed to be registered beforehand
• a lack of clarity as to whether rules on who could attend and vote were applied consistently
• the full results not put being put in the public domain straight away (maybe not at all), and consequently there has been a fair element of suspicion and speculation because of this vacuum created by the party.

With the Government already anticipating an embarrasingly low turnout for the PCC elections, the news of an internal investigation in Brum just two months before the Tory conference comes to town will do little for party morale that has barely recovered from this year’s self-inflicted ‘omnishambles’.

For the full post,

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