Tories rethink A-list after 'Londoncentric' charge

David Cameron's controversial A-list will be overhauled to include more regional candidates.

The move comes after complaints that the list is too "Londoncentric" — stuffed with high-flyers in the capital only interested in plum seats in London and the Home Counties.

In a bid to quell dissent over the fast-tracking of favoured parliamentary candidates, places will be created for hopefuls from the English regions, Scotland and Wales.

The move comes as the Tory leader faced new pressure over his election strategy. A poll claims Tory support has slid to 34 per cent — down two points and just a point above Labour.

The Populus survey in the Times blamed the slump on the loss of disenchanted Rightwingers to the UK Independence Party.

At a press conference today Mr Cameron will stand firm over his strategy of modernising the party image while shifting to the centre ground, despite accusations that he is apeing the young Tony Blair.

In a "mid-term report" on his first year in office he was expected to hail the A-list as a big success in recruiting able women for winnable seats, but say there are still too few black and Asian candidates.

But the poll findings appear to fuel the worst fears among senior Tories that the Cameron "bounce" may have come to an end.

Populus claims Labour is unchanged at 33 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats are down a point to 19 per cent.

But support for "other parties" has jumped to 14 per cent, mainly to UKIP (on two per cent) and the Greens (up to four per cent).

A major bout of defections from the Tories to UKIP could put Mr Cameron under pressure from his grass roots.

However, the poll suggested that Mr Cameron will do better against Gordon Brown than Tony Blair. With Labour led by Mr Brown, it claimed the Tories would lead by 39 to 32.

A shadow minister said: "We are heading for a hung Parliament, not an election victory."

Although Tory ratings shot up in the spring, they hit what analysts called a glass ceiling of 38 to 40 per cent over the summer and autumn — falling well short of the figure needed to win an election.

Party strategists believe that Mr Cameron's modernising reforms have worked well in London.

But they concede that the key barometer regions of the North-West and the Midlands have yet to show benefits — while Tory activists in those areas are at risk of becoming disenchanted.

Opening the A-list to regional worthies is one way of shifting the campaign outside London. At the same time, London-based candidates who cannot be bothered to seek seats in far-flung regions may be dropped from the list.