Time for Tories to bring back ousted MPs, says Grant Shapps

Former Tory minister Grant Shapps has been uncharacteristically quiet in recent months, with nary a peep from him since his disastrous stewardship of James Cleverly’s Tory leadership bid (spreadsheet-wielder Shapps was accused of being the one urging backers to “lend” their votes to Kemi Badenoch in order to give his man an easier crack at Robert Jenrick, only for it to explode in his face and Cleverly miss out).

Now he’s back, today writing an article for Conservative Home on how splendid it would be if Tory constituency parties started selecting defeated MPs as their candidates for next time round as soon as possible.

His new group Conservatives Together, he wrote, had surveyed those who had lost their seats and found they were desperate to get back in the saddle toot sweet.

“They’re a resilient bunch,” he writes. “They’re champing at the bit to go again… perhaps we’re a party in denial, still in the early stages of the process of grieving our loss. But anyone who was expecting the onset of a further psychodrama has, so far, been left waiting.

“That’s good news and we should probably go on to exploit it by selecting candidates early. The evidence shows that early selection, especially from among a pool of experienced candidates, would be a strategic asset.”

He goes on: “Early candidate selections in the right seats should be one of the most obvious marginal gains, in the style of Dave Brailsford’s Team Sky cycling squad.” Leaving aside that Brailsford is now a key figure at Manchester United, 14th in the Premier League and quite possibly facing their first relegation since the 1973-74 season, what experienced candidates could Shapps mean?

Possibly one whose LinkedIn page lists him as a former defence secretary, former energy secretary, former business secretary, former home secretary (for six days), former transport secretary and former housing minister – but curiously omits any mention of gainful employment since losing his seat six months ago.

Let’s hope a constituency association snaps Shapps up and gets him back in Parliament soon – or his alter-ego Michael Green might have to knock out another get-rich-quick book!