A meeting of the National Conservative Convention, the governing body of the party’s volunteers who include constituency chairmen and local area and regional officers, descended into name-calling and jeering when the party chairman and his colleagues attempted to defend David Cameron’s A-list.

As a result, a review of the A-list system has been promised over the coming months. One long-serving member of the convention, who has attended the NCC meetings at the annual party conference for a number of years, said that he was astonished by the level of dissent. “I have never seen open revolt like that against the party chairman and senior officials,” he said.

About 400 members of the 1,000-strong convention were at the meeting, which was held at the Bournemouth International Convention Centre yesterday morning.

Of the matters addressed, which included angry exchanges about the distribution of conference passes, Mr Cameron’s A-list of nationally approved candidates elicited the most heated debate.

The A-list — officially known as the priority list — contains high-flyers who the leader believes are essential to represent the country better. About 60 per cent of those on the list are female, reflecting Mr Cameron’s view that the party needs more women MPs, and about 10 per cent are from ethnic minorities. The A-list is seen by party leaders as critical to persuading the public that the party is changing.

Many activists are opposed, seeing it as unwelcome interference from the party headquarters, as a sop to political correctness or as an affront to meritocracy.

“We want people with the greatest suitability, irrespective of their sex or colour. It is the one thing that really annoys people,” said one of the delegates present. Another said: “People in the street don’t care if it’s a woman or an ethnic minority or whatnot.”

When pressed by constituency chairmen about the list, Mr Maude refused to issue an apology, saying he thought it was “the right thing to do”, adding that it would not be changed as Mr Cameron had repeatedly promoted the idea during the leadership contest.

Shireen Ritchie, chairman of the committee on candidates, and Bernard Jenkin, deputy chairman with responsibility for candidates, tried to placate the crowd, saying that “everyone on the A-list is top quality”.

One member shouted out that neither Mr Maude nor Mr Jenkin would be MPs today if the A-list had been in place when they were trying for a seat in Parliament. Mr Jenkin agreed that “it would have been much harder to get into Parliament under this system, and quite rightly so”.

When Mr Jenkin tried to persuade the crowd that the party’s image was in need of rejuvenation, and employed Henry VIII and Elizabeth I as examples of memorable figures, the audience jeered. One member of the convention told The Times: “He was on a different planet. People were laughing at him.”

Many of the delegates were more sympathetic. One said: “With some of the older members, if the candidate didn’t go to the right school, they don’t want to know. But it’s helping us pick up votes — it’s definitely making a difference.”

Mr Jenkin told The Times: “There have been some very big changes and there was bound to be some fallout but it’s all been done by consensual co-operation.”

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