Mark Littlewood in conversation with Jonathan Gullis

Mark Littlewood of Popcon talks with Jonathan Gullis.   Click on the heading below:

 Jonathan Gullis talk with Mark Littlewood

Plus ca Change! Conservative Candidate Selection for London Mayor

 With thanks to BBC Newsnight.

Speculation has started regarding who will be the Conservative Candidate in the London Mayor election. As per Camilla Tominey of the Daily Telegraph 10 January 2026 "James Cleverly is being lined up as the Conservative candidate for mayor of London.   This video shows what happened  in 2006 when James Cleverly last put forward his name to be a candidate for mayor.   It was at the height of the controversy over David Cameron's "A" List. 

    I had been asked by the Party Board to research the operation of the "A" list which was proving to be very unpopular with the grass roots Party members.  To my surprise I found that the number of women applying to be candidates was approximately 30% and the number of women candidates being selected was also 30%. In my report I stated that the "A" list was not a solution to the problem of few women candidates and research should be done as to why so few women applied.    The report was accepted by the Party Board and David Cameron told me that the "A" List was to be dropped privately with no public announcement.   He went on to say that he only brought in the "A" List because he thought it would get him the women's vote in the Leadership election.

"Conservatives Together" & Grant Shapps - Selection of Parliamentary Candidates

 

On 29 December 2025 the article below by Grant Shapps appeared on the ConservativeHome web site:

 Here is my response;

 Grant, CCHQ's responsibility is to conduct due diligence on candidates. No more no less. It is the right of the ordinary members of the Party to select their candidate without interference by CCHQ. Conservatives Together are training people to go through a selection process which should not be taking place. All it is doing is giving the Party Establishment the opportunity to manipulate the process of selection by eliminating people they do not like or whose views they do not like. If I may say so, the quality of candidates was much higher pre the new Constitution of 1998 when the Constituency Associations were autonomous and chose their candidate without CCHQ interference.

Recommendation to Constituency Associations:

Unless you want an Establishment clone, your Constituency Association should not include a Candidate who has had training by Conservatives Together. 

They will have been taught to present themselves in the best possible light, so you will not get the real persons’ views.

If they really wanted to be a Member of Parliament they would have found out what it entails before applying to be a Candidate, so why are they applying now?

A six month course but not a mention about Conservative objects, values or principles!   Do you really want a greasy pole kind of candidate who does not think for themselves but just trots out the propaganda they have been given?

 

You don’t win elections with just slogans and spin but by having enough credible people ready to stand.

by

Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps is a former Defence Secretary, Transport Secretary, and Party Chairman and was MP for Welwyn Hatfield 2005-2024

The most important Conservative revival work is happening outside the spotlight.

A few months ago, I found myself in a room with twenty Conservatives who had almost nothing in common – except ambition and impatience. One had been running a business since their early twenties. Another had spent years in local government, quietly fixing things without ever being noticed. One had given up a safe professional career because they believed politics could still be a force for good. None of them were household names. None of them were part of a faction. All of them wanted to serve.

What struck me wasn’t their ideology. It was their seriousness.

That room was the first cohort of the Conservatives Together Fellowship Since then, we’ve run a second cohort and are about to start our third, with applications remaining open until 31st December. Sixty people in the programme so far. Remaining on track, that will be 500 trained by the time the country next goes to the polls.

That number isn’t accidental.

It reflects something uncomfortable but obvious: parties don’t win elections because of slogans and spin. They win because they have enough capable, credible people ready to stand. People who can persuade voters on doorsteps, survive hostile interviews, and govern competently when they’re elected.

After the 2024 General Election, the Conservative Party has been doing what it should do: reassessing, arguing, renewing. But while ideas matter, infrastructure matters too. And one part of that infrastructure – how we identify, prepare and support future candidates – has been quietly underpowered for years. I know this because as a former Conservative Party Chairman I appreciated there wasn’t time or capacity in-house to do this longer term work.

That is the gap Conservatives Together exists to fill.

CTog is not part of the party machine. It isn’t a pressure group, a faction, or a rebrand of something familiar. It is a not-for-profit organisation, sitting outside the formal party structure, with a simple aim: to help grow a deeper, stronger pipeline of Conservative candidates, free of charge to those taking part.

Why outside the party?

Because it allows honesty. About what works. About what doesn’t. About the reality of standing for Parliament and being elected, as opposed to the myth. It allows us to focus on skills, judgement and resilience, rather than box-ticking or networking for its own sake.

The Fellowship is a six-month programme. It is demanding. Participants are challenged on policy, communications, campaigning and leadership. They are exposed to the pressures of modern politics as it actually is, not as it used to be. They are supported by an Expert Network that includes MPs, peers, former parliamentarians and specialists who give their time because they believe the future of the party is worth investing in.

What we do not do is select candidates. That remains, rightly, the job of CCHQ and the party’s democratic structures. What we aim to do is ensure that when selection panels meet, they are choosing from a broader, deeper pool of people who are actually prepared for what lies ahead.

This matters because politics is getting harder, not easier. Voters are more sceptical. Media scrutiny is relentless. Populism thrives where serious politics retreats. If conservatives want to win again – and govern well when we do – we need people who are grounded, capable and motivated by service rather than celebrity.

Which brings me back to that room.

At the end of the session, one Fellow said something quietly revealing. “I didn’t realise,” they said, “how much work this would be. But I also didn’t realise how much it mattered.”

That, in the end, is the point. The next Conservative revival won’t arrive in a briefing note or a clever line. It will come, slowly and unglamorously, from people willing to do the hard work. Conservatives Together exists to help find them – and to make sure they’re ready when the moment comes.

 

Review of the Conservative Party Constitution - Update

 See link below

https://fb.watch/E9mxO3z37u/ 

John Strafford addressing the COPOV meeting on the Review of the Party Constitution.

You will see from the below that it says the following, so at the COPOV Forum held on 13 December I asked the question " How many of the audience (20 people from 8 Constituency Associations) has heard of the Review of the Conservative Party Constitution?"  Not a single person had heard of the review, or had heard from their Association Chairman anything about the review and how to get involved!    So much for participation of the ordinary members!

We will provide regular updates on the progress of the review via the member email bulletin, but if you wish to receive more frequent updates you can also opt into this in the survey. Your local Association/Federation chairman will be involved at each stage, and will also be encouraged to discuss individual topics with local members throughout.

 Julian Ellacott (Chairman of the National Convention) has written to all Party members as follows:

Conservatives

Dear John,   The Party’s Constitution, last updated in 2021, underpins the way the Party is run.   As with any credible organisation, especially one which aspires to run the country, it is a pre-requisite to be able to run our own affairs fairly, robustly and transparently.   Reviewing the Constitution is therefore important, especially following our defeat in the General Election last year. We have to learn from our past mistakes and apply those lessons to our own structure (just as we are doing in terms of our policy platform).   To that end the Party Board has instigated a thorough review of the Party’s Constitution, which will run into 2026 and involve all members and elected representatives.  A dedicated committee will coordinate this work and will consult on potential changes in various phases, each covering different topics.   At the end of it the changes will be put to a vote of the Constitutional College (in line with the terms of the current Constitution).   The members of the committee want to hear your views on which subjects within the Constitution you think need to be focused on most, as well as your views on high level principles for guiding the review. Please therefore complete this short survey.

We will provide regular updates on the progress of the review via the member email bulletin, but if you wish to receive more frequent updates you can also opt into this in the survey. Your local Association/Federation chairman will be involved at each stage, and will also be encouraged to discuss individual topics with local members throughout.   Thank you in advance for your participation in this important task.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Ellacott  Chairman of the National Convention and Chairman of the Constitution Review Committee  This is excellent news.    First of all congratulations to Julian Ellacott for getting this important item onto the Party Agenda. I make the following initial comments: 1)    "A dedicated committee will coordinate this work and will consult on potential changes in various phases, each covering different topics." The "dedicated Committee" should include ordinary members who are not part of the vested interests mentioned in 2) below. 2) It states in the survey that the review will be implemented on 1 January 2027 We should aim to implement changes by 1 Jan 2026.

When the Constitution was created it took too long to review it, which meant that the members lost interest and the vested interests (CCHQ, Party Donors, Constituency Chairmen, Women's Organisation, 1922 Committee etc.) moved in to strengthen their positions to the detriment of ordinary Party members.

    3) The survey asks you to indicate how strongly you agree with making us a stronger campaigning force.   

Of course you have to answer "for the strongest possible", but what exactly does it mean?

    4) The survey lists a number of areas of the Constitution, and asks which three should have the highest priority?

They all should have priority but the three most important are 

a) Rules for the election of Leader

b) The Board of the Party

c) How future changes are made to the Constitution.

The most important issue is c) above

The new Party Constitution should be capable of being changed by a motion at an Annual General Meeting of the Party by Party members on the basis of One Member One vote, with a 60% majority of those voting.

In which case after the new Constitution has been agreed under the existing Constitution it should be put to a meeting of all Party members for approval, with the ability to move amendments to the Constitution at the meeting.

How to smother the Conservative Party out of existence!

 

This article (see below) "Candidates. The ‘assessment centres’ have begun – but what’s changed?" by John Moss appeared on the Conservativehome web site on 17 Dec 25.   The next day on 18 December 25 In response Conservativehome published an article by Henry Hill "Candidates. CCHQ is testing heavily for good campaigners – but being good legislators seems irrelevant"

Here is my response to both articles:

 John Moss is a campaign manager at College Green Group and helps people seeking election to navigate the approval and selection stages of the candidate process. He is also Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency association chairman, a councillor, and former GLA and parliamentary candidate.

1) John, you clearly have a vested interest in promoting the bureaucracy of the Candidates department, but in doing so you are destroying the rights of Party members to choose their parliamentary candidate, by diminishing the parliamentary candidates they can choose from. CCHQ's sole role should be to conduct due diligence. Thereafter it should be left to the ordinary members of a Constituency Association to select their parliamentary candidate. Also I see that as well as being a Constituency Chairman you are also a Councillor. This is wrong because as a Councillor you are the local political voice of your Association and answerable to the Association. This creates a conflict of interest because you should not be answerable to yourself!

 

Henry Hill "Candidates. CCHQ is testing heavily for good campaigners – but being good legislators seems irrelevant"

Response:

2)Henry, your article together with John Moss's article yesterday make for depressing reading. Do you not realise that by developing the Candidate's Committee bureaucracy you are at the same time reducing the right of Party members to choose the Parliamentary Candidate of their choice?

Membership of the Party is in freefall. Events are being cancelled for lack of support, finances are being strained, Constituency Agents no longer exist. Many Constituency Associations have become Post Box numbers. Members no longer have any democratic rights. The Conservative Party as a democratic organisation has been destroyed. In my own constituency of Beaconsfield Reform now have more members than the Conservatives. Every week they are having training meetings with their members on campaigning, getting the vote out, manning polling stations etc.

The reality is that the Conservative Party is at last moving towards being Conservative, which I thoroughly applaud so we should hold our seats at the next General Election. However to increase the number of seats we have to win many marginals. This is where you need feet on the ground. Beaconsfield have today about 700 members which is still one of the highest in the country, (it had 6,500 when I was Chairman), but you need a thousand members (only about 15% will be active) to fight a General Election campaign on the ground, to organise Committee rooms, get the vote out, man the polling stations, distribute the literature etc.

Nothing has been done to encourage membership, nothing to improve their rights. Without this the Party will cease to exist. Time is running out.

Article by John Moss: 

Candidates. The ‘assessment centres’ have begun – but what’s changed?

Last month, emails dropped into the inboxes of those who had applied to re-join the Approved List of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates, passed the initial review of their applications and cleared the due diligence stage, inviting them to the first stage of the ‘Assessment Centre’. That dreadful term is hanging on, no doubt, from the HR background of the previous chair of the Candidates Committee – every one still calls it the PAB!

So far, so familiar.

This is the same process of approving future candidates as in the previous Parliament, but there have been changes, which have been developed under the leadership of Clare Hambro, who took over as Chair of the Candidate’s Committee in the spring. With admirable transparency, these were laid out to members of the Party’s National Convention at the Party Conference in Manchester.

First and foremost was a commitment that everyone applying would go through the same, full process with no ‘light touch’ reapproval for former MPs or those who were previously on the Approved List. This was applauded by almost everyone in the room, and whilst the questions to be put to applicants in their competency interview are likely to be tailored to their previous circumstance, this is a sensible variation, rather than any relaxation of the rigour of the process.

Since applications opened in late summer there have been over 500 applications. There is a much-reduced team at CCHQ and the system has been a little glitchy, but those who do clear this hurdle must then provide three referees and submit to financial and digital vetting. It would seem unlikely that anyone who felt their past might trip them up would apply, but a pre-emptive check perhaps ought to be considered.

Assuming those first two hurdles are cleared, the Assessment Centre beckons.

The first stage again consists of the interview with two assessors, though in-person this time, not online. Then there is the ‘Inbox’ exercise that challenges applicants to show how they would deal with scenarios MPs typically face, and to prioritise them. Unsurprisingly, you’re playing the role of an incumbent MP with a significantly reduced majority in a seat where control of the council has been lost by the Conservatives. Depressingly familiar!

In the last parliament there were eight scenarios presented for this exercise, to complete over 45 minutes. That remains, but the new set appears to be slightly less intricate and, surprisingly, a little less focused on how one might translate constituency casework into local campaigns. Expect challenging diary clashes, tough casework, internal relationship management, and how to deal with proposals by the left-wing council, as well as some personal integrity issues.

What looks like it has changed the most is the content of the interview. Whilst still following the ‘competency’ model where you need to find the stories from your life which illustrate the competencies the assessors are looking for, there is a stronger emphasis on campaigning experience, leadership, and problem solving from a Conservative perspective. Interviews last at least an hour, so a thorough grilling is to be expected.

Again, in the last parliament, about one third of those who took stage one didn’t make it through to the final stage, so nailing the interview is essential as these assessors will probably also recommend the level of pass you receive, should you progress and pass the second stage of the Assessment Centre.

That stage will continue to be in-person and the psychometric and situational judgement tests will remain, but the exercises to be done live in front of assessors are changing. Whilst not yet clear, the four-way collaboration test – the ‘group exercise’ – is likely to be more campaign focused and the public speaking/Q&A exercise may revert to one where you get the subject rather than use one of your own. It is likely that a mock media interview will be added to the suite of challengers too. So get reading those Weekend Briefs!

All assessors involved in your progress through the various stages will be involved in the final decision-making process. So every stage from the Application Form to the final in-person test will be a factor in deciding to pass you or fail you, and if it is a pass, what sort of pass you get.

We hear that the geographic restrictions and the rather pointless ‘key’ pass will be dropped, with successful applicants either getting a full pass or a development pass. Full passes allow you to apply for any seat, including target seats; those with development passes will be restricted to non-priority seats, possibly in a “Team Seats” cluster.

It is anticipated that the first constituency adverts will go out after the elections in May, by when a reasonable cohort of approved candidates will be in place so that constituency members have a good pool to choose from.

Credit is due to Clare and her team for getting this process underway, in good time to have all seats selected by late summer 2027, whilst also dealing with Mayoral and Welsh candidate selections. This ought to give all candidates a fair chance of embedding themselves in their constituencies and delivering the best possible result in the General Election – whenever that might be called.

It is intriguing that Reform are not yet advertising for potential future parliamentary candidates (other than for seats where there might be by-elections) and with more candidates to find than any other party apart from the Greens, it will be ironic if they end up doing the sort of head office stitch-up that Conservative constituencies faced in 2024, 2019 and 2017!

 

Discussion and Debate at a Conservative Party Conference. How it used to be.

 The day Conservative Party members elected the Party Chairman!

Be Bold Says Mark Littlewood to John Penrose

Discussion by Mark Littlewood of Popcon with John Penrose, Chairman of Conservative Policy Forum on 2 December 2025.

https://youtu.be/KmM43jYPGd8?si=cPvh7zbhbYjW1ezJ&t=3496 

Net Zero and a Constitutional crisis!

 At the Gerrards Cross Conservatives dinner on 27 November 2025, John Strafford asked Dr. David Starkey whether, now that The President of the United States and the Reform Party oppose the policy of Net Zero and the Conservative Party is moving in that direction, can King Charles II continue to advocate a policy of Net Zero, thus interfering in the political process, unlike his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who always stayed neutral, and the King is therefore creating a constitutional crisis.?   David Starkey's answer was "Yes, it will create a Constitutional crisis and the Prime Minister will have to have privately, a firm word with him!".

                                                 With thanks to Photo by David Moore.

Margaret Thatcher. We miss her!

Jim Davidson and Margaret Thatcher  Watch this video to the end It is a wonderful anecdote by comedian Jim Davidson about Margaret Thatcher. I was introduced to Jim some years ago at a Party conference by Dr. Liam Fox MP who said to Jim "John is one of my patients in Beaconsfield" to which Jim said "I wonder you are still alive!"

COPOV Mulled Wine and Mince Pies Forum 13 December 2025

 Do come and join us for the Mulled Wine and Mince Pies Forum on 13 December 2025 in Gerrards Cross, Bucks.   Full details and AGENDA are shown on the Events Page in the column on the right!