Elect the Conservative Party Chairman

 

The following is an article written by Henry Hill on the conservativehome web site,11th July 2024:

During each of the leadership contests the Conservative Party has laid on with increasing frequency in recent years, there have been mutterings about cutting the membership out of the process.

One prominent champion of this idea has been William Hague, who first introduced the members’ vote in 1998. In  a 2022 column for the Times, he wrote that:

“Many activists will not like the idea of losing their vote, and a previous attempt at that failed to obtain the necessary supermajority under the party constitution. Ultimately, however, they subscribe to a party because they want it to succeed and be part of a healthy democracy. That does now require returning the choice of a party leader to the MPs.”

The use of the word ‘returning’ is interesting, because he makes no mention of unwinding any of the other changes made at that time. As John Strafford argued on this site shortly after Hague’s piece, the vote on the leadership was offered to balance a wider curtailing of the members’ role in the Party. He wrote:

“At that time the organisations campaigning for democracy in the Conservative Party, including the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, wanted a Party Chairman elected by all the members of the Party on the basis of One Member One Vote, and for the Party Board to have a majority of voluntary Party members.

“CCHQ refused to agree to this because they wanted central control of the Party, so they gave the members a sop by saying they could have a vote in the Leader’s election; the member’s mistake was to accept this sop.”

So far, those Tory MPs who’ve spoken up on this subject have stressed their support for the members’ vote – as well they might, with an eye on the leadership contest.

We thought we would test the proposition properly. Our post-election survey asked not just whether members support a democratic role in the Party, but what sort of role, and tested both the leadership vote and several of the other options Strafford and others have advocated.

Unsurprisingly, almost seven in ten of those surveyed supported retaining their final say on the leader. Almost as popular – and again unsurprisingly, given the fury in many quarters about how CCHQ has handled candidates and selections in recent contests – was restoring to associations the free hand they used to have in selecting their candidate.

A majority also support electing the Party Chairman. This is a major prize for advocates of the more old-school democratic structures of the Party.

But given the narrowness of the result, one must wonder whether it might have been the recent memory of Richard Holden’s chicken run that pushed this over the top; the idea of returning Conference to the voluntary party, with floor speeches and motions, was supported by less than a quarter of members.

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.

Conservative Party Reform. Urgent! Action July 5th!

 Article in Conservativehome.com June 24th.

Our party’s ultra-centralised campaign machine is failing. A future leader must repair CCHQ – or replace it.

June 24, 2024 | Henry Hill | ToryDiary

I cannot now remember where I read this (all tips gratefully received), but one of my favourite descriptions of the historic Conservative Party was something along the lines of “six hundred social clubs that dabble in politics”.

This was an apt description of the party not just in its post-war pomp, when it counted well over a million members, but in some sense right up until 1998, when William Hague gutted its democratic structure in the wake of the electoral rout the previous year.

John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, wrote on this site a couple of years ago about how the old voluntary architecture – elected officers, floor motions for debate, and so on – were dismantled by CCHQ, the centralisation covered by the invention of a membership vote on the party leader:

“All the lines of communication between the Parliamentary Party and the ordinary membership of the Party were eliminated. CCHQ wanted control so that they could control the MPs.”

One part, in particular, stands out in light of the news coming out of the campaign trail:

“Selection of parliamentary candidates is controlled centrally, and the Party Board can take control of any Constituency Association which does not toe the line – and has done so. Basically, the Conservative Party is now a self-perpetuating oligarchy.”

This process of centralisation, abetted by the rollout of modern technology, seems to have reached its denouement at this election, (if it did not before). Iain Dale reports that CCHQ is resorting to grossly heavy-handed tactics to try and force candidates and activists to abandon their own battles to prop up Cabinet ministers:

“I have heard of three candidates in Tory held seats with majorities of between four and six thousand, who have been ordered to shut down their campaigns and redeploy themselves to help cabinet ministers with majorities in excess of 20,000. And if they refuse, their computer logins to the party systems are cancelled and they’re told they won’t remain on the candidates list after the election.”

This isn’t just a Tory problem; Michael Crick reports that similar measures are being reported on the Labour side too. But Sir Keir Starmer is about to secure a landslide victory, which isn’t the sort of thing that tends to prompt big reviews of your party machinery.

The state of CCHQ, on the other hand, is or at least ought to be a prominent issue in any Conservative leadership contest. It is rare to find any campaigner with a good word to say about it, and it is a pale reflection of the old Central Office.

Subjecting it to a measure of democratic control, as Strafford suggests, would seem an effective way to a) ensure that Schumpeter’s Gale blows at least occasionally through the dusty tombs of the party bureaucracy and b) try to invest CCHQ with more respect for the independent interests of the party as an institution, rather than just serving as the leader’s enforcer.

Unfortunately, it is a very rare candidate who is, upon actually winning power, prepared to loosen their grip on the party machinery and candidate selection process.

And in Hague and CCHQ’s defence, it seems very unlikely the Party would ever have made it to 2024 without some kind of centrally-vetted candidates list; the media environment, and journalists’ and public expectations of how parties operate, is simply very different today, and with the membership so attenuated and modern society much less prone to joining things, the gulf between members (of any party) and the wider public is wider too.

Nonetheless, it is clearly possible to survive and even thrive in the Current Year with a party at least somewhat more institutionally hale than today’s Conservative Party – Labour is the proof of it.

CCHQ, on the other hand, has spent the past month alienating first many people on the candidates list (which should be its reservoir of the most loyal troops) and now activists up and down the country, enraged not just by the tactics Dale writes about but more broadly by lethargy and incompetence.

One candidate, by no means a disgruntled right-winger of the Andrea Jenkyns school, told me a couple of weeks ago that they were going to start ignoring CCHQ’s demands for central approval of all their literature, because the green light was taking so long to come that it was hamstringing their campaign. Another said they were worried their central mailing wouldn’t hit people’s doormats until after postal voting had opened.

Whoever succeeds Rishi Sunak, something has to change about how our party is run. There needs to be a better compromise between a necessary bare minimum of central control, and the prerogatives of members, associations, and the national voluntary party. Anyone standing to replace Rishi Sunak should be quizzed thoroughly on whether, and how, they will repair CCHQ – or replace it.

Critical Questions for Nigel Farage and the Conservative Party Chairman.

 

Critical Questions for Nigel Farage of the Reform Party and The Conservative Party Chairman

British political parties are traditionally formed as unincorporated associations composed of a membership, rather than established as corporate entities.

Rules are usually set out in a written constitution, while party affairs are handled by a committee chosen by members - like that of Labour or the Conservatives.   However this is not the case with the Reform Party.

The Reform Party is owned by Reform UK Party Ltd, so who controls the Reform Party?

Reform UK Party Ltd. has 15 shares. The shareholders are Nigel Farage, who holds 8, and Richard Tice, who holds 5. Chief Executive Paul Oakden and Party Treasurer Mehrtahs A'Zami hold 1 share each.

What does this mean?   Mr Farage is able to remove Mr Tice as director, and take the decision to unilaterally dissolve the organisation, making him the party’s ultimate decision-maker.

It also means that Nigel Farage could sell his shares and whoever bought them would take control of the Reform Party.

Mr Farage claimed Reform UK would “democratise over time” after he was accused of running a “one-man dictatorship”.

Reform has previously said the structure allowed the organisation to “cut through” as an “insurgent party” without the possibility of factionalism which can plague other parties.

I can understand that but the reality is that at present the Reform Party is a one man dictatorship and that is unacceptable in a democracy.   So the question is:

“Nigel Farage, will you commit to a date by which the Reform Party becomes a democratic organisation in which ultimate authority rests with the membership on the basis of one member one vote?”.

The other question which needs a reply is addressed to the Conservative Party Chairman.

“Why does the Conservative Party not attack the Reform Party for being a dictatorship?”.   Is it perhaps that the Conservative Party is also a dictatorship run by an elite oligarchy that has taken all the democratic rights that the Party members had prior to the introduction of the new Constitution of the Party in 1998 e.g. Selection of Candidates, Motions at the Party Conference etc?.

Response to Sir Graham Brady MP re Conservative Party Leadership Election!

 

Will the Conservative Party face a financial crisis? It has happened before!

 As per the records of the Electoral Commission of the total funds raised by CCHQ in the last year 75% of those funds came from 10 donors.   I wonder how many of those donors will still be around if or when the Conservative Party loses the next General Election?   Could the Party end up as in the early 1990s when it had a deficit on net assets of £19 million?   Who would bail out the Party?   No good looking to the members as their numbers have dropped from approx 500,000 to 150,000 today and after every General Election you get a further fall in members!   The situation will be dire, but then what can you expect when the person in charge of CCHQ  i.e. the Party Chairman, is unelected by and unaccountable to the members of the Party.

Question to the Conservative Party Chairman! What was his reply?

 Putting a question to Richard Holden MP, Conservative Party Chairman, on 22 February 2024, at the excellent Chesham and Amersham Association dinner The question was: Under the Conservative Party Constitution it states that "The Leader shall determine the political direction of the Party having regard to the views of Party members and the Conservative Policy Forum" Now that there are no longer motions for debate at the Party Conference how does the Leader get the views of the ordinary Party Members? Needless to say I did not get an answer, although the Party Chairman said "What a great question!" and then proceeded to talk only about the Conservative Policy Forum! What about the ordinary Party Members?

Therese Coffey MP - Are we governed by an oligarchy?

 Question to Therese Coffey at the Institute of Government 19th February 2024 watch from 42minutes in!

The start of a Conservative Party revival!

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/165369683084/user/554980993/

https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/popular-conservatism-launch-westminster-liz-truss-priti-patel?fbclid=IwAR1YPjQBDMh3YPmbzJ_VxNZZ0KgfAXVxlNvcVCtBSnka807G_YB1I16I-4s

Conservative Party Objects and Values - Sir Graham Brady replies!

 Thank You Sir Graham!

Letter to the Prime Minister Conservative Party Objects and Values

 

Campaign for Conservative Democracy

C. O. P. O. V - CONSERVATIVE ONE PERSON ONE VOTE

 

  The Rt. Hon. Rishi Sunak M.P,                                 21^st  December 2023

10 Downing Street,

Westminster,

London SW1A 2AA

  

Dear Prime Minister,  

 

Conservative Objects and Values

The Conservative Party Constitution emphasizes the  objects and values of the Party:

 

“PART 1 NAME, PURPOSE OBJECTS AND VALUES This is the Constitution of a political party which shall be known as “The Conservative and Unionist Party” (referred to in this Constitution as “the Party”).  .  1          Its purpose is to sustain and promote within the Nation the objects and values of the Conservative Party.   PART II MEMBERSHIP The Party is a political Party for the Nation, open to all who share its objects and values and who undertake to be bound by this Constitution.”

 

Nowhere within the Constitution does it state what the objects and values are!

Many loyal members of our Conservative Party, and perhaps more importantly, the General Public are no longer clear exactly in what the Conservative Party believes.  We feel it is imperative that our Party’s objects and values are clearly outlined so that it will help the Conservative Party win the next General Election.

 It has become apparent during 2023 that many Conservative voters are staying at home and not voting. We believe that a reminder of Conservative objects and values will give our supporters good reason to turn out and vote for Conservative candidates.

 The attached document has been developed with that in mind. The statement is concise and expounds what we believe is the central core of the Conservative Party  It has been seen and endorsed by the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, and we hope that you will approve it and incorporate it within the Party’s Constitution.  A copy is also being sent to Richard Holden MP as Chairman of the Conservative Party,  John Penrose MP as Chairman of the CPF,  Peter Booth, Chairman of the National Convention and Sir Graham Brady, Chairman of the 1922 Committee  

 We want the Conservative Party to win the next General Election.   We want the Party’s message to be clear and concise and hope you will agree this document will clarify both for Party members and the general public what are the Party’s objects and values.

 Yours sincerely,

 JOHN E STRAFFORD

Chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy

 

c.c. Richard Holden Esq MP;  John Penrose Esq MP;  Peter Booth Esq, and Sir Graham Brady MP

.

 

            

Choosing your parliamentary Candidate - Due Dilligence

 A meeting at UCL with the Conservative Party and the Labour Party discussing due dilligence amongst other matters. Do not miss Questions and Answers!

Questions and Answers session on the Selection of Conservative Party Candidates

 View this session on the questions and answers at the Conservative Party Conference fringe meeting held on 3rd October and organised by the Campaign for Conservative Democracy and the Conservative Democratic Organisation.

View here!