At the Spring Forum the Party Co Chairman announced that "membership has soared 60% to over 200,000", implying that this was all due to Boris.
Boris Johnson went on to say "having grown our membership by 60% over the last few years to over 200,000."
If these figures are correct they would demonstrate a remarkable achievement, so are they accurate? A 60% increase to 200,000 means a base figure of 125,000, i.e 125,000 plus 60% equals 200,000.
In July 2019 we had accurate membership figures because of the Leadership election. Boris got 92,153 votes and Jeremy Hunt got 46,656 votes, giving total votes of 138,809 but the turnout was 87.4 % so 138,809 is 87.4% of the total membership, which means that the total membership was 158,820. A bit different to 125,000!
So if the total membership in July 2019 was 158,820 it has increased by 41,180 to arrive at 200,000, i.e.it has grown by 25.9% not 60%, a creditable performance.
Of course if the Party was transparent with its membership figures we would be able to see on a yearly basis how membership was going, but that will not happen until we have a Party Chairman elected by and accountable to the Party membership.
