Should Tory candidates be treated equally!?

Last weekend, both the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday were outraged by Annunziata Ress-Mogg being dropped from the Conservatives’ approved list of candidates for the next general elections in 2015.

Both articles mentioned a couple of other surprise eliminations, none of whom has spoken directly to the papers however they all had close friends who were very dismayed by the party’s decision and let their disappointment be known. In Ress-Mogg’s case – her father is a well known and respected journalist; it’s therefore understandable why the media will have more interest in her story. As for the rest, equally wonderful former candidates – who, like everyone else, had to sign a disclaimer before getting an interview slot for their re-assessment, accepting beforehand that the committee’s decision is finial, indisputable and irrevocable – their fight might therefore be a fruitless uphill struggle. Nevertheless, when there is a well there is always, always a way.

Past talking over with a couple of Tory friends I didn’t pay too much attention to the issue, that is until this weekend when it made its second outing on the Sunday Mail This time the article stated that the Corby MP, chick-lit author Louise (Bagshawe) Mensch is leading a parliamentary revolt over dropping Annunziata from the list because at the time of her interview Ress – Mogg was eight month pregnant. And that Mrs Mensch is planning to bring the topic up at a meeting of the 1922 committee!

The first thing that shocked me, was the use of pregnancy as some sort of disability, disease or some special condition that merits some exceptional treatment. Newsflash, women have been getting pregnant for centuries and with the exception of some medical conditions pregnancy never stopped any woman from achieving what she set out to achieve neither during nor after.

And secondly, the idea that one candidate is more valuable and can be singled out with a privileged treatment while there are others who worked equally hard if not harder in some cases than Ress- Mogg in their fight to secure a conservative majority is preposterous. Many who fought a seat did it at a cost to their private lives, families and even carriers and finances – in some cases, the sacrifice made will never be undone – but they did it out of conviction and with compassion. Yet no one seems to be interested in them! How come!?

Most people enter frontline politics very aware of the pitfalls and the costs that awaits them and their families. However, it is still shamefully unfair that only one candidate is singled out when we know there are many who are equally deserving to stay on the list yet maybe because they don’t have the right connections, sir name and clout to fight their corner, they go by unnoticed.

Somehow, I though we as a party and a country have moved on form all of that!