20th
August 2018
Rt. Hon. Brandon Lewis, MP
Chairman, The Party Board,
Conservative Campaign Headquarters,
4 Matthew Parker Street,
London
SW1H 9HQ
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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