Well, it's all kicking of in the media.
I know and like Ali Miraj a great deal and he is a talented and effective campaigner, however I think that he was wrong in what he wrote about Witham Conservatives on his blog and foolish to have written it.
My colour is not the first thing that I think about in the morning and it's not the last thing I think about at night. In fact it is only part of what makes me what I am. My schooling, geography, occupation, sex, military background, etc, etc, etc all have a significant impact on what and who I am. When looking for a seat to fight at the next general election all of these things come into play, assuming your success or otherwise is solely because of one factor is unrealistic.
There are a lot of talented people on the Conservative priority list and not very many "safe" seats. That is always going to make it hard to find a safe seat.
I got through to the interview stage at Witham, along with Ali, and Priti Patel. That's 3 black/Asian candidates out of 16 (so I am led to believe) interviewed, that's almost 20%, twice the national percentage for BME numbers and about ten times the percentage of the BME population in rural Essex.
That doesn't sound racist to me.
BME candidates can get selected in "safe" seats, Shailesh Vara and Adam Afriyie are proof of that but it is hard for everyone. I did some work for Dominic Grieve MP when I first started out on this treadmill, he became something of a mentor to me, he is white, a man, a barrister, a public schoolboy, an Oxbridge graduate, straight out of "central casting". He confided to me that he very nearly gave up on becoming an MP because of the difficulty he had finding a "winnable" seat. At the 11th hour he was selected for Beaconsfield, one of the safest Conservative seats in the country. When it comes to politics, no one gets a free ride.
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Well said James, you'd get my vote.:)
Couldn't agree more. Given the relative lack of success over three elections the numbers of safe seats are far fewer than they were twenty years ago - no-one has a "right" to one.
Surely it's the whole point of the A-list - getting the best candidates in winnable marginals rather than safe seats?
I am with you James. Sadly I think that this article on his blog is going to cause him more trouble getting a seat than the colour of his skin.
Well said.
There are a lot of similarities between myself and Ali.
We have both fought General Elections, both been Councillors (I was a Council Leader),campaigned for years and still only 40.
The difference between us is I am white, he is Asian. That means he gets to apply for these seats and I hear nothing from the candidates department. I am told to be quiet and sit on the sidelines and watch.
Do I get out of my pram and throw my toys out? Do I stop working my butt off to get the party back in power? No - I get on with it and recognise that I got in to this to make the country better and not to see politics as a career. I want to be an MP (just an ordinary backbencher), but I want the party to win as well - Ali clearly does not agree with this.
the point is that apart from being brown and muslim miraj appears to be the ideal candidate for the conservatives.
not many candidates can match his qualifications or work for the party since he seems to work for cameron and he is an LSE graduate chartered acountant working as a city investment banker. you would think the tory toffs would be falling over themselves to give him a seat but of course miraj is brown so will never get a seat. i can guarantee that his being muslim is a huge factor against him getting a winnable seat.
surely the tories need one muslim mp if they seriously want to represent the makeup of britain?
It is a sad fact that voters are turned off by names that sound like they are ethnic minorities. In multi-member council elections you can often see significantly fewer votes for ethnic minority candidates compared to their 'British-sounding-named' colleagues of the same party. This is not limited to Conservative voters but is across the political spectrum and I worry about what it says about the people of this country.
It seems that the only way Muslims and Black people get elected in this country is in constituencies with large ethnic minority electorates, not areas the Conservatives traditionally do well.
...Surely it's the whole point of the A-list - getting the best candidates in winnable marginals rather than safe seats?...
Thought this was a good comment - candidates who could turn an electorate around but would that candidate be so altruistic?
Thanks for your timely contribution, James. Nobody has automatically done enough to get anything on a plate. I'm afraid that I found Ali's timing appalling and largely self-serving and I have told him as much on his blog.
James Cleverley is one of the top candidates around and the association that selects him will be fortunate indeed.
As a Conservative candidate, you make friends on the circuit. I was fortunate enough to be in the final of Battersea - a definite Tory gain at the next election - with Jane Ellison, the worthy winner, and two outstanding BME candidates, James and Sam Gyimah. I am honoured to think of both as friends and quite sure that all four of us will be colleagues on the Conservative benches in the next parliament, when David Cameron is Prime Minister.
I can only comment about the candidates that I've met, but of those, James, Sam, and Priti are three BME candidates amongst many others who are supremely qualified, likeable, politically able and charismatic. No wonder they are making so many finals between them and are all sure bets to be selected very soon.
All of them are on the priority list on the basis of their merits and a system that sees such talented candidates coming to the fore is to be welcomed.
PS - when I think of James's single most important quality as a candidate that separates him out from the pack, I think of his valiant service in our Armed Forces. We need more of our serving men and women in Parliament and selecting James in a winnable seat will be an excellent start!
Yes Louise, of course there are good candidates on the A List including those with an ethnic background. However there are also a great many not on it solely because they are white men.
What's your views on that?
I have heard Ali speak and thought he was eminently sensible, so was very disappointed at his reaction to not being selected. It is a hard fight and he has just got to keep on trying! If he is good enough he will get there eventually.
James, When you were not on the A list you did a very good article criticising it. How different from that is Ali Miraj's stand? As Far as I can see Ali is just being truthful about his own experience. I have seen him on TV and if the Tory Party cannot find a place for a talented and articulate man such as him, they we really are in trouble.
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