The official press release I sent to the papers reads as follows:
It was standing room only on Monday night when the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Eric Pickles MP, paid a visit to the local party.One last thought - Eric bought with him his Chief of Staff. I was very dissapointed that this chap wasn't called Cheese, as they could have joined in with the Mitchell and Webb double acts:
After arriving by train, Eric first met with association officers in the Conservative Office before addressing around 70 members gathered in the Conservative Club.
Pickles, who is Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar, spoke about the upcoming parliamentary candidate selection to take place in Macclesfield. He outlined the different options available to the membership in Macclesfield, and mentioned that whilst there were already a good number of approved candidates several local people had recently applied to get onto the list.
When describing the selection process for the Conservative party, Eric mentioned the way the other parties select their candidates with little local involvement and said "They look at the way we do it and it makes them jealous".
After he discussed the possible process he took questions from the floor. Once the business of the selection had been dealt with he continued to answer questions on a range of political issues including Education, Europe, constitutional reform and local government.
Chairman of the local party, David Freear, said "Eric was very well received by the membership, who appreciated him taking the time to visit Macclesfield. We all enjoyed his down to earth personality and are looking forward to the selection process due to start in September".
