The Times: Tory men fight for more women MPs
Tory men are throwing their weight behind a campaign to boost the party’s number of female MPs. About a dozen male MPs have joined their female colleagues on a scheme to mentor would-be candidates.
Brooks Newmark, the MP for Braintree and co-founder of the group behind the initiative, said that it was about helping women to succeed in constituency selection contests by giving them the same support that men had enjoyed “for donkey’s years”.
He compared the role of male MPs in helping candidates to that of men in the suffragette movement, arguing that it was essential to have both sexes on side in the effort to make Parliament more representative of wider society.
David Cameron has come renewed attack in recent weeks over the number of women in his party. Although the number of female Tory MPs rose from 17 to 49 at the last election, as a proportion they represent only 15 per cent of the party compared with Labour’s 31 per cent.
The Prime Minister is aware that the issue is a weak spot for the party. However, with strong grassroots resistance to orders from on high, allies say that he feels all but powerless to force through change.
Baroness Jenkin of Kennington, the co-chairwoman of the Women to Win group, which is running the mentoring scheme, said this week that the Conservatives might have to reconsider using women-only shortlists.
The party made clear that it would continue to resist the idea. Efforts will focus instead on boosting the success of women in selection contests. Women to Win, which has the backing of the leadership, helps candidates to prepare CVs and perform mock interviews that mimic the real-life selection process.
One participant said that the scheme had brought out a competitive spirit among the mentors, with each one striving to get their protégé selected. Rival male candidates are so envious of the support provided that they have asked to be allowed to join.
Lady Jenkin said that men brought a different skill set to the group’s female volunteers. She said: “I think traditionally they have played the political game more successfully and they understand the nuances in a way that perhaps women don’t. But that is changing.”
Mary Macleod, the MP for Brentford and Isleworth, has launched a cross-party inquiry focused on retaining female MPs after three women elected in 2010 said that they would stand down at the next election. A fourth, the author Louise Mensch, left in 2012.
“We want to ask them why they are leaving,” Ms Macleod said. “Everyone has their personal reasons for going but we will say, ‘Is there anything that could be done differently that could have made you stay’.”