All-female Tory shortlist for Tiverton and Honiton by-election after porn scandal

Neil Parish - Tom Wren, SWNS
Neil Parish - Tom Wren, SWNS

The Conservatives have produced an all-female shortlist for next month’s Tiverton and Honiton by-election in the wake of scandals involving several male MPs.

Party members in the Devon constituency will on Sunday be presented with three candidates from which they will be asked to select a prospective MP to stand in the by-election on June 23.

The Telegraph understands all three of the candidates are women from the area.

The move comes after Oliver Dowden, the Conservative chairman, told The Telegraph that the Conservatives were committed to equal gender representation in the Commons - saying that substantially increasing female representation would be key to tackling Westminster sleaze.

However, it is understood that the three women were chosen on merit rather than as part of a deliberate “all-women shortlist”. The idea of a quota system was rejected by Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, as “demeaning” earlier this month.

Senior Conservative figures have privately said a local female candidate has the best chance of winning the by-election triggered by the resignation of Neil Parish, the Conservative MP who admitted to watching pornography in the House of Commons in a “moment of madness”.

A sitting Conservative MP was bailed earlier this week after he was arrested on suspicion of rape and other sexual offences spanning seven years, while last month Imran Ahmad Khan resigned following his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Conservatives' reputation 'tarnished'

Opposition parties have sought to capitalise on the scandal involving Mr Parish in their campaigns. Labour is contesting the seat using the slogan "cleaner rivers, cleaner politics", while the Liberal Democrats said the reputation of the Conservatives had been “tarnished” by the incident.

A local Conservative party source said it was “very early to tell which way the electorate will go” but maintained conversations on the doorstep had been "very positive".

The Liberal Democrats have made tax and farming central points of their campaign after conducting analysis that found the National Insurance rise will cost agriculture almost £290 million over the next five years.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have moved to deny suggestions they have made an “electoral pact” after Sir Keir Starmer reportedly told frontbenchers earlier this week not to travel to Tiverton to campaign.

A Labour source claimed their party was unlikely to win the seat and instead focused on “sending a message to the Conservatives”.