Cameron cuties: Tory anger as leader calls for all-women MP shortlists



David Cameron sparked Tory fury by announcing he will impose all-women shortlists on constituencies selecting General Election candidates.



In a major U-turn, the Tory leader said he will force some local parties to choose a woman candidate if their MP stands down in the next few months.



The initiative was seen by some at Westminster as a cynical attempt by Mr Cameron to burnish his image as a reformer, following weeks in which he has embraced a more traditional Tory message.



But he insisted the policy change was needed to increase the number of female Tory MPs, currently just 19 out of 195.



He said the lack of women and ethnic minority MPs was damaging for Parliament, adding: 'It's been an even greater problem for my party and one I desperately want to address and have tried to address.'

Blair's Babes: Tony Blair welcomes his female MPs to parliament in 1997

The move provoked an immediate backlash. Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe described all-women shortlists as 'an insult to women'.



She said: 'It will do women no good at all. Every woman in parliament should be able to look every man in the eye and know she got there on exactly the same basis.



'It is ill-advised and inequitable - it is not right that men should be barred from standing if they are the best candidate. It is also ill-timed - why on earth does the leadership want to pick a fight with the party when we are so close to an election and doing so well?'

John Strafford, of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, called Mr Cameron's announcement ' disgraceful'. He predicted it would lead to an exodus of activists.



Tory commentator Iain Dale, a candidate at the last election described the move as ' fundamentally unconservative'. He asked: 'where it will all lead? All-black

shortlists? All-gay shortlists? All-disabled shortlists? All-Muslim shortlists? Not in my name.'



Women shortlists: David Cameron at the Speaker's conference

Mr Cameron said that where Tory MPs announce they are standing down after January 1, the party will use powers normally reserved for by-elections to impose a shortlist. In some cases all the candidates will be women.



The move is likely to apply to only a handful of seats but the decision to embrace the principle of all-women shortlists will enrage many local activists.



The Tory leader has already introduced-rule changes designed to encourage local parties to choose women and ethnic minority candidates. He said he had tried to 'encourage, educate, cajole, lead and prod' them. But aides said they still select too many white, middle-class men.



Mr Cameron's comments came at an inquiry chaired by Commons Speaker John Bercow into increasing the representation of women, the disabled and people from ethnic minorities in Parliament.



He said 33 per cent of new candidates chosen to fight Tory-held seats were women. Even a narrow General Election win would mean around 60 female Tory MPs.



Gordon Brown told the hearing 54 per cent of new candidates in Labour-held were women. He said he wanted to increase the number of Labour women MPs from 95 to at least 120. Overall, 125 of the 646 MPs are women.



But Mr Brown was forced to deny suggestions from one of his own MPs that his Cabinet is too reliant on white Scottish men. The Prime Minister was visibly discomfited when the lack of diversity in his top team came under question.



Former minister Parmjit Dhanda pointed out that of the 23-strong Cabinet, none are from ethnic minorities and just four are women - as many as the white Scottish men.



Before Mr Brown became Prime Minister there were two ethnic minority Cabinet members.

Mr Brown replied that ministers who attended Cabinet meetings, without necessarily heading a major department, included seven women, one Asian and the country's first black Attorney General.

How Blair's babes forged a path to Parliament

The idea of all-women shortlists has been highly controversial since it was first discussed in the late 1980s.

The policy was adopted by Labour in 1993 after a deal to ensure at least one female candidate on every shortlist failed to increase the number of women MPs.

Thirty-eight Labour candidates from all-women shortlists fought the 1997 election and 35 won seats as part of the famous 'Blair Babes' intake.

The policy had already been declared illegal under sex discrimination laws after a challenge from two male would-be candidates, supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission.



In 2002 the Government changed the law to exempt all-women shortlists. At the last election 30 Labour candidates were chosen this way.

The best-known beneficiary of all-women shortlists is former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. But most other candidates chosen this way have made little impact at Westminster.