The Conservative MP South Suffolk, Tim Yeo, has been deselected as a Conservative candidate for he next General Election.
A Conservative Spokesman said:
“The South Suffolk Conservative Association have voted not to re-adopt Tim Yeo MP as their candidate for the next General Election. Selection for the South Suffolk constituency will be opened in due course.”
Mr Yeo said:
“It has been a privilege to serve as MP for South Suffolk since 1983. I will continue to work for all my constituents until the General Election next year.
“I am immensely grateful to all those Conservative Party members who voted for me to continue as their MP. I now ask them all to campaign for my successor with the same loyalty and dedication they have shown to me.
“I will give my full and unqualified support to whoever is chosen as the candidate here in South Suffolk. I wish him or her every success.”
Toby Kramers, Chairman of South Suffolk Conservative Association said:
“This has been a difficult time for the Association. Our priority now is to work together for success in the European elections later this year and in the General Election in 2015.”
Perhaps the South Suffolk Conservatives will choose a woman.
Deselections used to be very rare in the Conservative Party. But only on Friday we had Anne McIntosh fall victim to one in Thirsk and Malton. The idea that Party members voted for or against her selection purely on the basis of her being a woman strikes me as insulting to all concerned.
Still the media try and find a pattern out of whatever events are happening at the time. Perhaps the real pattern, if there is one, could be that Conservative Party members are becoming less deferential – reflecting a wider public scepticism of our political class.