Tories to short-list women MP candidates

LONDON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The British Conservative Party will short-list women candidates to replace retiring members of Parliament, Tory leader David Cameron says.

In comments made Tuesday at a parliamentary conference, Cameron said party leaders would impose all-female lists of candidates for the next general election in races where Conservative MPs were retiring -- thought to be numerous thanks to the expenses scandal, The Daily Telegraph reported.

"We need to make sure that the conversation we have within the Conservative Party and the conversation we have within Parliament is like the conversation that's going on in the rest of the country," he said.

The House of Commons Speaker's Conference, which had been called address the issue of under-representation of women in Parliament, was also attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He reportedly asserted that a strict reform of members' expense compensation system may prevent candidates of limit means from standing for election, the newspaper reported.

It quoted Brown saying the Labor Party already uses all-women short-lists in some places despite opposition.