I thought the Tory Party had done with this sort of thing

Unfortunately, I haven't got a category for the rightwing equivalent of my Radicals and Marxists of Chelm.

Otherwise, I'd bestow it on Joan Haworth, a Tory candidate for the council elections in the Denton and Reddish area of Manchester.

Oh dear. She seems to have been suffering from off-messageitis about the nice new Tory image:

Mrs Howarth was interviewed by Channel 4 news during the Tories spring conference in Manchester last Friday.

She was asked: "You wouldn't want an ethnic minority candidate in your seat? You think it would lose votes?"

Mrs Howarth replied: "Yes. Because we are in a traditional working class constituency and that is what ... It wouldn't work for us. It wouldn't work for us at all. To each his own."

Her remarks were duly condemned in forthright terms by David Cameron, who said that she is "in the wrong Party" and "unrepresentative of the modern Conservative Party".

Trouble is, that was some days ago. And she's still there, and still a Tory candidate for the May local council elections. And so embarrassing for David Cameron, considering he'd just called the UKIP party a bunch of fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists mostly.

Now you'd think from what I've quoted her as saying above, that Mrs Howarth is a woman who knows her own mind.

But it seems she might have taken some fast-acting remedy for her unfortunate off-messageitis. Because now she's saying

"I completely and utterly regret what I said to Channel 4.

"It was not what I meant or believe at all. I totally support David Cameron's moves to make the Conservative Party more inclusive and to have more candidates from black and ethnic minority communities.

"I believe that candidates should be able to stand everywhere regardless of the ethnic make-up of the constituency in question."

It is vital the party makes progress on this issue, she added.

Ummmmm. Yes. It's odd that she should say it wasn't what she meant or believed. Because the Manchester Evening News seems to have found her saying more of the same, defying the views of David Cameron, and suggesting Central Office keep its nose out:

At her home in Denton, Mrs Howarth said: “I’m in the right party. It would depend on the candidates themselves.

"You just pick the best candidate for your constituency. Ashton has a high ethnic community, and obviously an ethnic candidate would go down better than one would here.

“We choose the candidate which suits our community. We don’t want Central Office to say who we have to have in this community.”

Tory sources said under electoral law it was too late to stop Mrs Howarth standing as the official Tory candidate, even if they wanted to.

I'm interested to see how David Cameron will deal with this one. Will her statement of regret and sudden segue into Tory Central Officespeak be enough?

Comments

[Tim Roll-Pickering]

And she's still there, and still a Tory candidate for the May local council elections.

Under current election law the party cannot revoke her candidature at this stage. But then she can close the door on her way out.

[Love Supreme]

How often does the Labour Party select an English candidate for a safe Welsh or Scotch seat? As opposed to the other way round.