Tories aim for more female candidates

The Tory party is preparing to take action for the first time to boost the number of women selected to fight winnable seats.

The Conservative Women's National Council (CWNC), which held its annual conference yesterday, gave its backing to short-lists comprising 50 per cent women for all Westminster seats the party has a chance of securing.

The CWNCattacked sexism in the party. It warned that the party could lose the next election unless it fields more women candidates. It said that too often local branches "choose a man in preference to a woman, however, good or suitable that woman may be".

Yesterday the deputy leader of the party Michael Ancram, who addressed the conference in London, conceded that positive discrimination may be needed to boost the number of women MPs.

David Davis, the party chairman, held private talks with delegates about how to boost the number of female candidates. He said the Tory leadership was considering a system to match suitable women candidates to constituencies. Local selection boards would be offered a short-list, guaranteed to include women, from which they would be asked to choose a candidate.