How is the Conservative Party organised

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How is the Conservative Party organised ?
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Key points to consider
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Factions

• Most political parties have groups within them
  called factions (sometimes called wings).
• Modern political parties like the Conservatives
  are said to be a broad church in that they
  contain many different viewpoints or factions.
• The most obvious split in the Conservative Party
  is between Europhiles (pro-EU integration) and
  Eurosceptics (anti-EU integration).

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Task

• Read section 9.9 (and box 9.14)
• Considering the many different factions within
  the Conservative Party, what are the challenges
  facing the party leader ?

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Challenges

• Holding together a divided party.
• Making sure enough party members follow the
  leaders policies.
• Ensuring loyalty from senior party figures who
  may disagree with the leaders policies.
• Making sure leaders of different factions of the
  party are given senior posts to ensure stability
  and cohesion.

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Structure

• As the oldest party in modern British politics,
  the Conservatives have been the slowest to adopt
  a modern structure and organisation. Until the
  1960s it did not even elect its leaders ! The
  leading party figures chose the leader. This was
  known as the Magic Circle.
• Traditionally the leading Conservative MPs in
  Westminster chose the leader and decided the
  policy direction of the party.
• Following their overwhelming defeat in 1997,
  William Hague reformed the partys structure to
  involve the ordinary members more in electing the
  leader and deciding policy.

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Basic structure of the party
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The Role of the Parliamentary Party.
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The Role of the Constituency Associations.
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The Role of Central Office
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Key question

• To what extent do leaders dominate political
  parties ?
• Party leaders dominate policy making
• The image of the party leader is the central
  concern of the voters and the media.
• Most elections are decided on the personality of
  the party leader.
• MPs can bring down a party leader by voting
  against them in parliament. If leaders lose
  important policy votes they are forced to resign.

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Conservative Party Membership

• Why has membership of the Conservative Party
  steadily declined in recent years ?
• What is the average age of Conservative Party
  members ? Why is this ?
• Why is the decline in party membership a worrying
  trend for the Conservative Party ?
• Has David Cameron managed to reverse this trend ?

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Declining membership

• Erosion of class politics in Britain since 1960s
• Decline of the rural economy
• Changing role of women
• Decline in membership of all political parties.
• Popularity of single-issue pressure groups
• Damage done to the party by Thatcher and Major
  turn off for many.

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Age profile

• Average age of party members is 60-65
• Less than 5 are under 35
• (small c) conservative values tend to have more
  appeal to older age groups.
• Issues of tax, family values, law and order etc
  tend to have less appeal for 18-35 year olds.

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Is this a worrying trend ?

• No party can function without a grassroots
  organisation.
• Ageing membership does not bode well for the
  future ? Most party members are not activists.
• Party finances will suffer if membership declines
  thus harming their ability to win elections.

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Silver lining for Cameron ???
Like all western societies Britain has an ageing
population. This might increase the Conservative
Partys natural base of voters.
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Has David Cameron adopted the right strategy ?
Which of these statement fits best ?

• In trying to appeal to a wider and younger base
  of voters and party members Cameron risks
  alienating his core base ?
• In trying to appeal to a wider and younger base
  of voters and party members Cameron can overcome
  the problem of a shrinking core base and build
  new foundations for the party.

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Conservative Party Leadership

• What is the role of the Conservative Party
  Leader ?
• Selects the Party Chairman
• Selects the Cabinet / Shadow Cabinet
• Decides the Partys election manifesto
• Can appoint a Deputy Leader if desired.

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How is the leader selected ?

• Read section 9.12
• Draw a flow chart showing how the process of
  selection of the leader has changed since the
  1960s.

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Selection process
Pre-1965 Magic Circle of leading MPs Would
decide on the leader without a vote.
1965-1998 Election of leader by the MPs of the
Parliamentary Party. Knock-out system used if
more than one candidate stood.
Post 1998 In a two-way contest all party members
vote. If three or more candidates stand there
will be knock-out vote by MPs to reduce the
number to two. Then the final choice between the
remaining two goes to party members.
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Which system ????

• Look at Item A (page 177)
• Which selection process was used by the party in
  each of those leadership contests ?
• 1990 ballot of MPs
• 1997 ballot of MPs
• 2001 ballot of MPs to reduce candidates to
  final two then ballot of all party members.
• 2003 no ballot required as Howard the only
  candidate.
• 2005 Cameron chosen by same method as in 2001.

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Research

• www.theconservatives.com
• Research on Conservative Party policies on
• Europe, taxation, health, education, law and
  order, the environment and transport.
• Present in the form of a grid / series of points
  in your own words.
• Do not cut and paste.
• E mail to g.saputo_at_invicta.kent.sch.uk