I noted earlier that the the call was yet to go out for those wanting to put their hats in the ring for the safe Conservative seat of Bromsgrove.
But arguably even more odd is that there is still one seat within the list of what are, on paper, the 140 most winnable seats for the party which is yet to start seeking a Conservative candidate.
The seat in question is Hyndburn, where sitting Labour MP Greg Pope is retiring at the general election. Made up of a number of ex-textile towns in east Lancashire including Accrington, Great Harwood and Clayton-le-Moors, it is described by Waller and Criddle in the latest edition of The Almanac of British Politics as a "classic Labour-Conservative marginal" which will see a "truly competitive" fight at the general election.
It is, according to the Rallings and Thrasher figures, the 136th most winnable seat for the Conservatives and requires a swing of 6.9% to be gained. So why is a candidate not yet in place there?
Nigel Evans, MP for the neighbouring constituency of Ribble Valley, has highlighted his concern in the Lancashire Telegraph:
“The party need to choose now because Hyndburn is a highly winnable seat.
"The Labour candidate has already started canvassing and nationally the election campaign has begun. I will be speaking to the party’s chairman Eric Pickles about making the selection process in Hyndburn a priority.”
Delaying the selection until this late stage presumably means that the local association will have a shortlist of three imposed upon it under the by-election rules whcih took effect on January 1st.
Jonathan Isaby