Election of the Conservative Party Leader - what the rules should be!

  There has been some discussion about the rules for the election of the Conservative Party Leader.   I set out below what the rules should be if the Conservative Party was a democratic organisation.   These rules are only part of the radical reform that is required in the Conservative Party.  They are part of the Party's Main Constitution so can be changed by the members of the Party at a General Meeting with a 60% majority. Other changes to the rules include having an elected Party Chairman accountable to the membership at an Annual General Meeting.   Allowing the Constituency Associations to select their parliamentary candidates with minimum interference by CCHQ and having the right to deselect their MP as was the position prior to 1998. etc. etc.

Schedule 2

 

RULES FOR THE ELECTION OF THE LEADER

 

1             The Leader shall be elected by the Party Members and Scottish Party Members.

2         If the position of Leader of the Party becomes vacant the Chairman of the 1922 Committee shall arrange for an election process to begin as soon as practicable.   The Chairman of the 1922 Committee, acting on behalf of the Party, shall act as Returning Officer for all stages of the election.

Vote of Confidence.

3          If a number of Members of the House of Commons in receipt of the Conservative Whip, amounting to not less than 15% of the members of the Parliamentary Party advise the Chairman of the 1922 Committee in writing, either collectively or separately, that they wish there to be a vote of confidence in the Leader, the Chairman, without disclosing the names of any of the signatories, shall inform the Leader of the Party that a vote of confidence is to be held.

4          The Chairman of the 1922 Committee, after consultation with the Leader shall determine the actual date of such a vote, which  shall be held as soon as possible in the circumstances prevailing.

4.1        If the Leader fails to obtain a majority of the votes cast, he shall resign as Leader of the Party.   If the Leader receives a simple majority of the votes cast in the ballot, he shall remain as leader and no further vote of confidence shall be called for a period of at least three months from the date of the ballot.

5          A Leader resigning from the Leadership of the Party is eligible for re-nomination in the consequent Leadership election and have their name added to the list of Candidates and to be considered fully nominated.

6          Upon the initiation of an election for the Leader, it shall be the duty of the 1922 Committee to present to the Party, as soon as reasonably practicable, a choice of candidates for election as Leader.

7          In the event of only one valid nomination is received at the close of nominations prior to the first ballot being held by the Parliamentary Party for the election of the new Leader, the Returning Officer shall declare that Candidate elected subject to ratification by a ballot of the Party Members and Scottish Party Members to be held within one month of the close of nominations.   If the Candidate does not get over 50% of the votes cast in favour of the ratification the nomination process shall be started again.

Procedure for nominations for Leader of the Party

8             The Returning Officer shall call for nominations for the position of Leader of the Party from Members of the House of Commons in receipt of the Conservative Whip.

9             Candidates shall be proposed and seconded in writing by Members of the House of Commons in receipt of the Conservative whip.

10          Each candidate will indicate on the nomination paper that they are prepared to accept nomination, and that they will abide fully by the rules governing the election.

11        The Returning Officer and scrutineers designated by him/her will receive the nomination papers.

12        The names of the proposer and seconder of each candidate will be published by the Returning Officer.

13       Nominations will close at noon on a Thursday and the Returning Officer at the close of nomination, will  immediately publish a list of the valid nominations received.

Procedures for Balloting of the Parliamentary Party to determine the four candidates to be presented to the General Membership of the Conservative Party for election as Leader.

14          The Returning Officer will prepare a ballot paper listing the names of all the candidates and will issue a copy for the purpose of balloting to each member of the House of Commons in receipt of the Conservative Whip.

15          Any candidate may withdraw his or her name by advising the Returning Officer to that effect no less than 24 hours prior to the opening of the ballot unless by doing so only one nomination remains, in which case the withdrawal is not permitted.

16          If there are four candidates or less in the first ballot, then those candidates shall go forward to the  membership of the Conservative Party for election.

17          If more than four valid nominations are received the Returning Officer shall announce that a ballot will be held on the Tuesday immediately following the closing date for nominations.

18          If more than four candidates remain in the first ballot, each Member of Parliament will indicate their choice from the candidates listed, listing them in order of preference.

19          Where any Member is unavoidably absent from the House on the day of the ballot for any reason acceptable to the Returning Officer, the Returning Officer shall make appropriate arrangements for the appointment of a proxy.

20          The ballot will be secret and neither the names of those who have voted nor the names of those who have abstained from voting shall be disclosed by the Returning Officer.

21       The Returning Officer will announce the number of votes received by each candidate.

22          If there are more than four candidates in the first ballot, then the candidate receiving the fewest votes in the ballot shall withdraw and their second preference votes distributed to the other candidates. Further counts will be held using the same process until there are only four candidates left.

23          The four candidates who are left after the distribution of second preference votes shall go forward to the  Party members for election.   Should any of the four Candidates have less than 20% of the votes their name will not be included in the list to be put forward to Party members.

24          None of the candidates to go forward  to the membership may withdraw without the agreement of both the Chairman of the 1922 Committee and the Board of the Party. In the event of the death of any candidate the ballot of the Parliamentary Party will be reopened and re-run.

Procedure for the election of the Leader of the Party by the Membership of the Conservative Party.

25       Only those Party Members and Scottish Party Members who are United Kingdom citizens over the age of 18 and were members of the Party from the time of the call for nominations by the Chairman of the 1922 Committee for the election of the Leader and have been members for at least three months immediately prior to the close of nominations for the election of the Leader shall be eligible to vote in a Leadership election.

 26      The Chairman of the 1922 Committee will be responsible for the conduct of all ballots specified in these rules and will settle all matters in relation thereto.

 27         The candidates selected by the Parliamentary Party will go forward to a secret online ballot of all members of the Conservative Party.   The Secretary of the Board shall provide for voting to take place by post in respect of any member for whom there is no recorded email address.

28          The Returning Officer shall agree with the Board the closing date for the ballot which shall be as soon as practicable after the date of the ballot of the of the Parliamentary Party.

29          The ballot shall be closed at Noon on the date selected and the votes counted thereafter.

30          Voting by the Party members will be done on a preferential basis with the voter listing their order of preference, the winner being the first Candidate to obtain more than 50% of the vote. If on counting the first preference votes no Candidate gets over 50% the Candidate with the lowest number of votes drops out and their votes are distributed to the other Candidates according to their second preferences. Should no Candidate get more than 50% of the vote after the redistribution, the process is repeated.

31          In the event of two candidates receiving an equal number of votes for the winning place the matter shall be resolved by re-balloting the membership of the Party with just those two candidates.

32          The Returning Officer shall agree with the Board who is responsible, under his direction, for receiving and counting the votes in the online ballot.

33          The Returning Officer will announce the results of the election as soon as practicable to a meeting of the Parliamentary Party and representative members of the Conservative Party to be called by the Board.