A SPECIAL party meeting to select Twickenham's Conservative candidate for the next general election had to be cancelled at the last minute because of a shortage of people willing to take on the job, opposition members claim.

The special general meeting was due to take place on Friday October 4th, the same week that Richmond Park announced their candidate.

But Conservative party members were sent an urgent notice on October 2nd telling them that the meeting had been called off.

The note, signed by Twickenham's constituency agent Cllr Hilary Smith, states: "The association's Executive Council took the decision last night that they were not in a position to recommend the required number of candidates to a general meeting of members. They therefore agreed, with regret, that the meeting must be cancelled.

"On behalf of the Executive Council I do apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause. Clearly it is a most disappointing situation. We will, of course, review our position regarding a parliamentary candidate next year."

Twickenham was traditionally one of the country's safest Conservative seats until Toby Jessel, who had been in the post for more than 25 years, was ousted by Liberal Democrat Vincent Cable in 1997.

This week Dr Cable took news of the cancelled meeting as a very positive sign. He said: "I shall continue to do my job to the best of my ability whether or not there is a Conservative candidate. Nonetheless I derive some quiet satisfaction from the fact that the Conservatives no longer consider the seat to be seriously winnable."

Cllr Smith, however, denied that the cancellation was due to a shortage of willing applicants. She said: "It was a combination of factors and at the end of the day our Executive Council decided the time wasn't right. It is possibly just that it is too far away from when the next election is likely to be.

"They have postponed it, possibly for a year, but that has not been decided yet.

"Various people have put their names forward but it was decided that it's not the right time for us to go ahead.

"Richmond Park have selected a prospective candidate already because they had someone who was right for the job.

"We are expecting to oust Vincent Cable at the next election and that's why it is absolutely vital that we get the right candidate. Whoever we choose will be the next MP for Twickenham."

Marco Forgione, a 34-year-old business manager, has been selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park.

Mr Forgione made a keynote speech at the party conference in Bournemouth earlier this month where he raised the problems caused by lack of police in the borough.