Last week I wrote to the Conservative Party Chairman. I have not yet received a reply.
The letter is as follows:
Rt. Hon. Brandon Lewis, MP 5th November 2018
Chairman, The Party Board,
Conservative Campaign Headquarters,
4 Matthew Parker Street,
London
SW1H 9HQ
Re: Election and
De-Selection of the Conservative Party Leader
With reference to my letter
of 20th August 2018 relating to the election of the Conservative
Party Leader there has been continued speculation in the press about
Conservative Members of Parliament triggering a vote of no confidence in the
Party Leader. In addition to the point I
made in the letter that all candidates who have more than 20 MPs nominating
them should be put to the members in a ballot, there are two further points
which need consideration and action:
(1) The first point which arises relating to
the election of the Leader is that on two occasions, i.e. Michael Howard and
Theresa May the voluntary Party did not get a vote on the matter as there was
only one candidate. Under the present
Party constitution Schedule 2 para.7 it states:
“In
the event of there being only one valid nomination at the close of
nominations prior to the first ballot being held by the Parliamentary Party
for the election of the new Leader, the election of the nominee may if so
ordered by the Board be ratified by a ballot of the Party Members and
Scottish Party Members to be held within one month of the close of nomination”.
I
propose that in the above the following be deleted: “at the close of nominations prior to the first ballot being held by the
Parliamentary Party” and “may if so
ordered by the Board”
And insert after nominee “will”
The effect of this change would be to
ensure that in the event of only one nominee being put forward as Party Leader
the Party members would be invited to endorse the nomination. This process was used when William Hague was
Leader. It ensures that the Party as a
whole is supporting the new Leader and acts as a unifying force.
(2) The second point is when the Chairman
of the 1922 Committee receives the requisite number of letters expressing “no confidence” in the Leader. At the moment this triggers a vote of the
Parliamentary Party on the question of “confidence” in the Party Leader.
The
last time this happened was when Iain Duncan-Smith was Leader and he lost a
vote of confidence by the Parliamentary Party.
There was considerable dissatisfaction at the time, in the voluntary
Party, that the MPs had got rid of the Leader whom the voluntary Party had
elected. This was done on the grounds
that the Leader could no longer count on the support of his parliamentary
colleagues so his position was not sustainable. We now know from the example of Jeremy
Corbyn in the Labour Party that it is perfectly possible to act as Leader of a
Party even without the majority support of your fellow MPs.
It is quite clear from the Party’s
constitution that the intention is for the members of the Party to elect the
Leader. It is therefore quite bizarre
that the Leader can be dismissed by a vote of just the parliamentary
Party. I therefore propose that in the
event of the Chairman of the 1922 Committee receiving the requisite number of
letters expressing “no confidence “ in the Leader there should be a ballot of
all party members asking them for a vote of confidence in the Leader. In the
event that the Leader receives less than 50% votes in the ballot there should
then be a Leadership election.
Now that we have centrally organised
membership it should be relatively easy and inexpensive for members to be
balloted on these issues by use of the internet.
I reiterate the point I made in my letter
of 20th August 2018 that it is time for the Party to embrace
democracy and allow full participation by the membership. Only by doing this can we look forward to our
membership growing. Could you please put these proposals to the Party Board for
action.
Finally, I would emphasize the point I
made to you at the Party Conference. In
1998 with the new constitution all power in the Party was centralised into
CCHQ. In the 20 years prior to 1998
there were five General Elections and we won four. In the 20 years post 1998 there have been
five General Elections and we have won one.
There has to be a lesson here!
Yours sincerely
John E.
Strafford
Chairman
Copy: Sir Graham
Brady (Chairman 1922 Committee)
20th August 2018
Rt. Hon. Brandon Lewis, MP
Chairman, The Party Board,
Conservative Campaign Headquarters,
4 Matthew Parker Street,
London
SW1H 9HQ
Dear Brandon
Re: Proposed
Changes to the Election of the Conservative Party Leader
There is much speculation that there will be a Leadership Election in
the Conservative Party before the end of this Parliament. One of the
reasons for people to become members of the Party is that they can then
participate in a Leadership election and yet in two out of the last four
Leadership contests the members did not get a vote. The Members of
Parliament arranged that only one candidate was left to fight the election in
2003. In 2016 we ended up with only one
candidate and even in 2001 when the members got to vote the front runner was
eliminated by one vote by the MPs. In a
modern political Party this is not acceptable. The 1922 Committee
should now change the rules so that all candidates who have more than 20 MPs
nominating them will be put to the members in a ballot conducted on the
Preferential Vote system of election, so that the winner will be the first
candidate to get over 50% of the vote.
This is the fair way to proceed and one advantage is that as all members participate there can be no division between the Parliamentary Party and the rest of the members as the figures as to how each part voted would not be known.
I am aware that under the Party Constitution the 1922 Committee is
obliged to put two candidates forward for the members to vote on, but the Party
Board has the power under Part IV section 17 of the Constitution “to do
anything which in its opinion relates to the management and administration of
the Party.” It was under this clause
that the entire section of the Constitution on the selection of parliamentary
candidates was ignored at the General Election in 2017 so that CCHQ could
impose candidates on the constituencies.
In 2016, when David Cameron resigned as Party Leader some 10,000 people
joined the Party because they thought they would be able to vote in the
subsequent Leadership election. It is
said that people are now joining the Party in anticipation of being able to
participate in the next Leadership election.
I fear there will be mass resignations from the Party of its members if
the MPs only put forward one candidate or stop a candidate who is popular with
the members of the Party from b eing
included in the ballot.
It is time for the Party to embrace democracy and allow full
participation by the membership. Could
you please put this proposal to the Party Board for their approval?
Yours sincerely
John E. Strafford
Chairman
Copy: Sir Graham
Brady (Chairman 1922Committee)
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