Tories embroiled in their own 'Falkirk' crisis

Tories embroiled in their own 'Falkirk crisis' in row over whether to sack local MP
The Conservative party has been accused of being embroiled in its own “Falkirk crisis” after local members tried to sack a long serving female Tory MP.

The Conservative party has been accused of being embroiled in its own “Falkirk crisis” after local members tried to sack a long serving female Tory MP.

The row in Thirsk and Malton, one of the party’s safest seats in the north of England, is set to boil over this week when a ballot is held among local members over whether to deselect its MP Anne McIntosh.

Supporters of Miss McIntosh, 59, have privately described the affair as “our very own Falkirk” – a reference to the vote-rigging scandal which tore the Labour Party apart last year as it sought a new candidate for a safe seat in Scotland.

However, her opponents reacted by describing Miss McIntosh as “a silly little girl”, with one telling the Yorkshire Post that they wanted “an open selection” to see if London mayor Boris Johnson might be persuaded to stand.

The dispute started in January last year when the party’s local executive decided not to re-adopt Miss McIntosh as its general election in 2015.

But that decision was overturned last July by the Conservative Party’s national board following a three month investigation by the party’s disciplinary panel.

The panel’s report, a leaked copy of which has been published on the internet, found that the local party’s executive council which decided to deselect Miss McIntosh was not properly constituted.

The investigation decided the way she was deselected was "fundamentally flawed" and its result should be set aside.

The report said: “The Association is troubled by factions. It needs to unite, and personal feelings need to be set aside in the greater interest of the association and the party.

“Everyone was in agreement that the situation in Thirsk and Malton had spiralled out of control and was potentially damaging to the party’s standing locally.”

The panel added: "There is no evidence to suggest that Anne McIntosh has in any way neglected her duties or failed to discharge her responsibilities on behalf of her constituents."

Peter Steveney, the party’s local chairman, said: “The report was a travesty. We wrote to the party asking for an apology in July, and they still have not replied. And that, I’m afraid, is absolutely typical of the way they ignore the voluntary party.”

The local party’s executive has been reconstituted since the row last year. Last December it decided to put the matter of whether to readopt Miss McIntosh at next year's election to a vote of 600 members. The result will be announced this Friday.

If Miss McIntosh - who chairs the House of Commons' Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee - is forced out, David Cameron will lose one of just three female Tory MPs covering the whole of the North of England.

Miss McIntosh - who won with a majority of 11,000 in 2010 - survived an attempt to deselect her in the same seat in 2009, when relations with her local party were said to have “irretrievably, broken down”.

Miss McIntosh declined to comment. A Tory party spokesman said: “We do not comment on internal party matters.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10599439/Tories-embroiled-in-their-own-Falkirk-crisis-in-row-over-whether-to-sack-local-MP.html


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