If the comments on ConHome are any guide, David Cameron will once again be straining Tory grassroots support if he continues to push for all-women shortlists. The BBC quotes John Strafford from the grassroots group Campaign for Conservative Democracy saying that Tory members were totally "fed up with interference from the centre" and warning that further moves to control candidate selection marked the "death of democracy."
Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of all-women short lists, it is indeed strange that the Conservatives supposed passion for localism doesn’t extend to granting constituency parties the right to select their preferred candidates. If you are to be a genuine localist, you need to learn to let go.
As Mark Hanson makes clear in our current issue, modern technology like the internet has made it easier than ever to drum up support for political causes. In the past it was hard for people removed from mainstream media sources to feel like they were making a difference, but this is no longer the case. How desirable those at the top of the main parties’ trees find this development is another question.