THE Conservatives have been praised by a political opponent for choosing an all-women shortlist to replace Sir Tony Baldry.

The North Oxfordshire Conservative Association announced on Monday that its prospective parliamentary candidate to replace Sir Tony for the Banbury’s constituency would come from a shortlist of four women.

The association – which said gender did not play a part in its selection process – has, though, refused to name them.

The final candidate will be unveiled after a meeting of the association on Saturday.

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It put together an all-women shortlist for the Conservative stronghold and have said the selection is based on merit rather than a deliberate push to promote women.

Cherwell district councillor and prospective Labour parliamentary candidate Sean Woodcock said: “It’s nice to see the Conservative party at last promoting women.

“If you look at the current cabinet and the front bench you will see there’s a massive gap in the representation of women.”

The association said it was not releasing the candidate shortlist because it was “choosing to respect the privacy of the candidates”.

Mr Woodock said: “When we had our own selection process we published all the names of the people who made the shortlist.

“We were very transparent but the Conservatives have chosen to go down a different road.”

The national Conservative Women’s Organisation (CWO) chairwoman Niki Molnar said she was delighted by the news but not surprised.

“Recently we have seen high numbers of women dominating parliamentary candidate shortlists.

“So far eight shortlists across the country have consisted purely of women, this being the ninth.”

She said: “None of the local associations have received any prompting from central office.

“These candidates have been shortlisted on their eligibility to be public servants, and we are delighted that more women in the Conservative Party are being shortlisted as parliamentary candidates.”

Sir Tony, who has served as MP of Banbury for 32 years, announced he would be stepping down in September.

In 2010 he held his seat with a majority of 18,000 votes.

He refused to comment to the Oxford Mail on the prospect of his replacement being a woman.

SpokeswomanCatharine Gammie said he would not comment on the all-women’s shortlist and he “respects the association’s selection process”.

The association made its announcement about the shortlist on Monday on Twitter.

Having interviewed five men and six women, it said that “gender was not a factor” and that all candidates were “interviewed and assessed objectively”.

Tory MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Nicola Blackwood – the only female Conservative MP in the county – did not respond to the Oxford Mail’s request for comment.

In 2010, David Cameron said there was an under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in parliament and this was “a real problem for parliament” and for the Conservative Party.

The Prime Minister has previously threatened to impose all women’s shortlists on associations.

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