The Tories have always denied rumours that they might give their coalition colleagues an easier ride at constituency level in the 2015 general election. But even though all three parties are very much on an election war footing now, the Conservatives have, strangely, yet to select candidates to fight two of their favourite ministers. The constituencies for Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander currently have no candidates, along with 28 others (including MPs the Tories aren’t quite so keen on working with in Coalition, such as Lynne Featherstone), while the other 27 have candidates in place. Alexander is easy to work with in the Treasury (I reported before Christmas that he’d been scolded by Lib Dem high command for using the Tory term ‘global race’). But the Conservatives have selected a candidate to fight Tory-friendly ex-minister Jeremy Browne in Taunton Deane, so clearly there are no plans for a National Liberal Party just yet…
Is this an informal way of keeping the heat off ministers who would work well in a second coalition for as long as possible? The later a candidate is selected, the smaller the opportunity they have to make an impact.
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