MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tories declare Open Recruiting Day; 325 MPs could loose their seats

Britain’s opposition leader David Cameron

Britain’s opposition leader David Cameron has invited ordinary members of the public to stand as Tory MPs amid warnings that half the House of Commons will drummed out at the next election over the expenses scandal, according to the Sunday edition of the Daily Mail.

The Tory leader said he would throw open the Conservative candidates list so the party can recruit people with a record of public service but no traditional ties to the Tories.

Party bosses expect dozens of winnable seats to become available when party grandees stand down or are forced out due to excessive claims.

A survey by Professor Colin Rallings, director of the elections centre at Plymouth University, found that 325 of the current 646 MPs will be swept away at the general election, the biggest clear-out of parliament since 1945.

Party whips expect 30 to be forced to resign, with another 200 quitting because they can’t cope with the public backlash and another 90 voted out.

Mr. Cameron said he would make it easier for independent minded individuals to find a place on the Tory benches by offering his team more free votes on issues that are outside the party’s core manifesto commitments.

The Tory leader said he did not want a Parliament of ‘robots’ and pledged to seek out those who can help him steer the face for the party away from the ageing shire toffs who have forced taxpayers to stump up for moat cleaning and a floating duck house.

He admitted that might lead to public figures like Joanna Lumley, who won a famous victory for Gurkha rights last week, finding their way to Westminster. But he will also seek out successful head-teachers and small business leaders.

‘We've got to try and find them and persuade them to stand.’ he said. I want to open up the talent that is available to Parliament. ‘What I'm going to do today is I'm going to reopen the Conservative candidate list to anybody who wants to apply.

‘They may not have had anything to do with the party before. But I'm saying, if you believe in public service, if you share our values, if you want to help us clean up politics, come and be a Conservative candidate.’

Mr Cameron said he would make it easier for ordinary people to get selected by local associations by using more ‘open primaries’, which would see non Tory members allowed to help pick a candidate, in the same way they do in the United States.

Having experimented with the process in some seat, the Tory leader added: ‘It worked fantastically well and I want to see more of it.’

Tory campaign chiefs hope that by selecting more independent people, many with strong local ties, they will avoid the public backlash against the mainstream parties.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg yesterday said it should be possible for constituents to recall their MP – another idea copied from the US - if an independent scrutiny panel had proved an MP was acting incorrectly.

‘Once it’s been proven and shown and independently proven that the MP has done something seriously wrong … it seems to me really obvious that for those MPs, of course their constituents should be able to sack them.’

He said he welcomes the sight of more independent candidates, like television campaigner Esther Rantzen, challenging the status quo.

‘I really welcome a lot of independents coming in and saying - I'm going to challenge these party stooges,’ he said. ‘New independent candidates throw down a challenge to all party MPs to do better.’