Tribute
to the Last of the Conservative Party Constituency Agents!
By
John
Strafford
In 1963 when I
joined the Conservative Party there were 550 Conservative Party Constituency
Agents. Today there are less than 30.
Philip Dumville,
the Agent for the Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association has just
retired as Agent after 40 years service with the Conservative Party.
On Thursday
evening at a Zoom meeting tributes were paid to Philip by:
·
Carl Jackson, Chairman of Chesham & Amersham
Association
·
Baroness Emma Pidding
·
Joy Morrissey MP
·
Dame Cheryl Gillan MP
·
Theresa May MP
·
Earl Howe
·
Rhiannon Rowsell, Chairman of the
Beaconsfield Association and
·
John Strafford
I was Treasurer
and then Chairman of the Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association
between 1980 and 1990. I chaired the
first two meetings of the National Conservative Draws Society and was on its
Management Committee for 25 years from its inception in 1994. Here is the speech I made at the Zoom
meeting in tribute to Philip Dumville O.B.E.:
My
Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen, I became Chairman of BCCA in March 1985. The Association at that time had
approximately 6,000 members with 500 Young Conservatives and a strong Women’s Organisation.
Let me briefly remind you what office life was like
then:
·
Mass communication had to be done by
printed letter and then stuffed in envelopes and stamped by volunteers and in
some cases then delivered by volunteers.
·
Smaller numbers were done by stencil and
then rolled off.
·
Personal computers were relatively new and
expensive.
·
There was no email or Internet or mobile
phones or Whatsapp groups.
The office in London End was not as efficient as it
should have been and I was unimpressed by the organisation of the campaign for
the County Council election in May 1985, so after consultation with the
Officers, President and Vice Presidents the then Agent’s Contract of Employment
was terminated.
For six months we manned the office with volunteers
and disposed of all the old worn-out furniture and equipment and replaced them
with new. Volunteers redecorated the
building during which time we found it had dry rot.
We
spent six months looking for a new Agent who would be able to implement the changes
we needed to make. By November 1985 we
had a short list of candidates. We gave
them psychometric tests and invited them to an interview with the Executive
Council of the Association. The Executive Council had over 100 members. We voted on the candidates and Philip came
second. Fortunately for us the winner
dropped out and the job was offered to Philip who accepted it and joined us in
early 1986.
Mention
has been made of Philip’s fund raising and membership abilities. We included within his Contract of
Employment an incentive scheme based on Fund Raising and Membership. When Norman Tebbitt heard about this he
almost burst a blood vessel!
Philip’s
first campaign for BCCA was the District
Council elections in May 1986. Part of
his responsibilities were to ensure we got all our nominations in on time. Unfortunately, the Leader of the Council was
ten minutes late in getting in his nomination,
so we started the campaign one seat down! John Brown of CCHQ telephoned me because he
thought I might fire Philip. I
explained that everyone is entitled to make one mistake. It was the first and last mistake that
Philip made whilst I was Chairman.
So, with Philip at the hub of the organisation what
did we achieve?
·
We computerised the membership
·
We pioneered the use of Direct Mail
techniques for use with fund raising and membership..
·
We formed the Churchill Club to cater for
the wealthier members.
·
We formed the Supper Club to attract
people into membership who were not so wealthy, and it was to be non-profit
making. It reported quarterly to the
Political Committee on its activities.
·
We campaigned for the people of Northern
Ireland to be accepted as members of the Conservative Party. This was agreed in 1989.
·
We paid for a full time Agent in Slough
and in 1987 and 1992 took on the full responsibility for running the General
Election campaigns in different Wards of Slough. As a result, John Watts was elected as their
Conservative MP.
·
We sold the premises at London End and our
President Lord Burnham sold us the land at Aylesbury End and then we signed a
Building Contract with his Company to erect the present offices. I project managed the contract and it came
in on budget and on time. The concept
was for the building to house the offices for four constituencies but initially
this did not happen so the top floor was rented out.
· We
raised approx. £175,000 which with the proceeds of £175,000 from the sale of
London End paid for the building.
Philip organised the move to the new premises.
Why do I tell you all this? It is to illustrate how busy the
organisation was, and at the hub of that organisation was the Agent, Philip.
It was his enthusiasm, experience, expertise and
energy which kept the show on the road.
Without him it couldn’t have been achieved. It could not have been done without him. We took the annual income of BCCA from
£30,000 a year when I started as Treasurer to £100,000 a year when I finished
as Chairman.
Philip, when you joined the Association I said to you
“stay 10 years, and then move on for you will need something new”. You ignored my advice, but you did start
something new.
In 1994 you created the National Conservative Draws
Society. I remember the first two
meetings at my house in Gerrards Cross.
There was just you, me, and Chris Poole. No one else wanted to know until the
Christmas Draw brought in £750,000. You
are the biggest fund raiser in the history of the Conservative Party. Over the years you have raised, almost wholly
by your own efforts, some £30 million and I do not think you have ever been
given sufficient credit for it, so I wanted to put this on the record.
Philip, it was a pleasure working with you. Y our loyalty to the Conservative Party was
total and now you are winding down your activities you deserve the highest
praise for what you have achieved. I
wish you and Sara all the best for the future.
