David Cameron has added a further 100 favoured would-be MPs to his list of priority candidates in an attempt to cajole local Conservative associations into picking women to fight winnable seats.

The so-called A-list, originally containing 101 candidates, more than half of whom were women, is being reinforced after analysis showed that it had failed to boost the number of female prospective parliamentary candidates. Letters will be sent out today to favoured individuals joining the priority list.