Sunday Times very positive about Mary Macleod
Women of all ages and incomes are more likely to vote Conservative than Labour” said an article by Eleanor Mills in last Sunday's Sunday Times which featured a large photograph of Conservative Brentford and Isleworth Conservative candidate Mary Macleod. The article continued:“Another candidate hoping to take advantage of this shift is Mary Macleod, who is standing in the west London seat of Brentford and Isleworth. A cheerful fortysomething blonde, Macleod, who was brought up in the Highlands, a daughter of the manse, worked for the consultants Accenture before setting up her own management consultancy.“Her seat may officially be marginal, but Macleod’s chances are strong because her Labour opponent is Ann Keen, an expenses disaster zone. As you might expect from a minister’s daughter and accountant, Macleod is evangelical about the transparency of her own expenses: her leaflets are full of her contract with the electorate and how she will post every cup of coffee she claims for on the net.“What really drives her is attracting more women to the Tory cause. “I am passionate about recruiting more women into politics,” she says. “When I worked for Accenture there were three women [members of staff] to 30 men. We just worked through it, but things have changed; now it is more like 50:50. A similar change has to come to parliament. But the process has to be meritocratic, it doesn’t help women if they are only there because of quotas.” She insists that under Cameron the party has changed: “I’ll admit it was pretty bad; in 2001 there was a white paper about diversity in politics and the Tories came out worst with only 8% of MPs being women.”“Macleod knew why women were not getting selected, having chaired the party’s candidates committee. “I used to hear horror stories about women and selection committees,” she says. “One woman went for an interview the day she gave birth — insanity — because she wanted to prove she was up to the job. Now, thank God, they are not allowed to ask about whether you are married and have children.“ “A new generation of Tories are in charge out there with different attitudes. Through schemes like the A-list [of preferred parliamentary candidates], which I helped set up, we have made sure we’ve got top women selected into safe seats. And to make sure we’ve got the right calibre of candidates, we’ve gone out and headhunted women. As a result we’ve had a much better selection of women to put up. If we get into power, all this will continue.”“On a rainy morning last week, Team Macleod set up a table adorned with balloons outside Marks & Spencer on Chiswick High Road. A smart elderly black woman tells Macleod that despite working and saving all her life she’s having trouble making ends meet because her savings pay hardly any interest. Macleod sympathises. A single mother is desperate because she can’t get her child into her local primary school. Macleod promises to investigate.“The public vent their grievances and she listens, warm, engaged, knowledgeable, promising to get back to them, taking their emails. I’m sure she will.“Macleod says she works from 8am to midnight most days: “This is a marginal seat. I keep thinking it could be that one extra vote that makes all the difference.” She knows that if she wins, life will only get more hectic. She laughs: “I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time.””It is quite nice to read something good and positive about one of the candidates for Brentford and Isleworth for a change !Mary Macleod is obviously going places.
David Giles ● 5600d1 Comments