Senior Tory urges positive discrimination amid party rift over selecting women

Theresa May, the Conservative Party chairman, was under pressure from both wings of the party last night over efforts to select more female candidates for Westminster.

She has backed tough action to force activists in winnable constituencies to choose more women. But allies of Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, said yesterday that they would rail against any such "politically correct" moves.

One said: "I'm pretty sceptical whether it can work. We have given the constituencies a pretty hard time in recent months and forcing this on them could cause considerable trouble."

He said he did not think any such "top-down" ultimatum would succeed because of the traditional independence of local Tory associations.

But John Bercow, a former member of the Shadow Cabinet, launches an attack today on the party leadership for the lack of progress in selecting female candidates.

Writing in The Independent, he calls on Mrs May to back the "excellent idea" of presenting a shortlist of high-flying candidates – half of whom would be women – to constituencies.

"The truth, as international experience has shown, is that the only really effective means by which to increase the number of women selected is the use of positive discrimination," he says.

Mr Bercow, who left the Shadow Cabinet in protest over Mr Duncan Smith's opposition to adoption by homosexual couples, complains that antediluvian views persist in the constituencies.

"There are still too many Conservative selection committees that want young male MPs to fraternise with at drinks parties and will not seriously consider choosing a woman," he says.

Mrs May admitted last month she had made only limited progress in persuading constituencies to select more women. She is calling in constituency chairmen to explain why nearly all associations persist in choosing white, male candidates.

Supporters concede she is facing entrenched opposition at high levels of the party to tying the hands of local associations over selection procedures. The sensitivity of the issue was reflected in the decision to postpone any effort to alter the rules until the summer. Mrs May wants the changes in place before the Tory conference in October.

She played down renewed speculation over a leadership challenge to Mr Duncan Smith after the local government elections in five months' time.

Archie Norman, a former Shadow Cabinet minister and a supporter of Michael Portillo in the latest leadership contest, said he expected Mr Duncan Smith still to be at the helm at the next general election, but said it would be "understandable" if he stood down before then. He said: "This year is probably the last opportunity to set new directions; after that the election drumbeat takes over."

But Mrs May said: "There is always going to be a time when Government is becoming unpopular, when the Opposition is in the position that we are now, which is that we've been building up our policy work. I think there is a real opportunity for us opening up now as an Opposition as the Government's failures are being exposed."