Conservative A-List

The Conservative A-List, also called Priority List, was a list of United Kingdom candidates drawn up by Conservative Central Office at the behest of David Cameron following his election as party leader in December 2005, aimed as a means of broadening the number of Conservative Members of Parliament, potential peers 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.

Cameron Cutie was a term used for female candidates.^[1]

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.^[2] 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, Zac Goldsmith, the author Louise Bagshawe (later Mensch), and Margot James.^[3]

Amid controversy, the "A-list" approach was endorsed by Michael Portillo, a Conservative MP until 2005, who in 2006 said that

[based on current membership]...much of the Parliamentary Party is reactionary and unattractive to voters.^[4]

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.^[5]

The 2010 general election saw failures as well as successes for the "A-listers" selected for 'winnable' seats.^[6]

Those on the A-list included the following: (bold marks people elected to Parliament in 2010. ^[7][8][9] Asterisks * are placed after some entries for decoration.)