The Conservative Party Leadership Election. Is it a distortion of Democracy?

 The Conservative Party Leadership Election.   Is it a Distortion of Democracy?

Changes that should be incorporated into the Party Constitution.

By 

John E. Strafford

Recommendation:

1. Those that elect the Leader should be the same electorate as those that decide to dismiss the Leader.

The Leader of the Conservative Party is chosen by the members of the Party out of two candidates selected by Conservative MPs.   However, a Leader can be dismissed from office by a majority of Conservative MPs.

If at an Annual General Meeting to which all Party members are invited there was a majority in favour of a motion of “no confidence” in the Party Leader then the question should be decided by a ballot using the internet (with suitable safeguards} of all Party members.   Any such motion should have a minimum of 10,000 signatures.

Recommendation:

2. Only a UK Citizen over the age of 18 should be able to be a member of the Conservative Party.

To be member of the Conservative Party you have to pay the annual subscription and agree to support the objects and values of the Party.   You can only vote after you have been a member for three months.  

 Under the current rules for membership of the Conservative Party you can join the Party even if you are not a UK Citizen.   This means that if you are a foreigner, i.e., a Russian citizen living in Moscow with no allegiance to the UK you can join the Conservative Party and vote in a Leadership election.  It cannot be right that the Leader of the Conservative Party and possible future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom could  be determined by foreigners.

Age is not mentioned in the Party Constitution but I understand that you can become a member at the age of 16.   This should be stopped.   The minimum age should be 18.

Recommendation:

3. Four candidates should be put to Party members for them to decide who the Leader should be.  Preliminary voting should be done by Conservative MPs on a preferential basis with the top four candidates being put to the members.

At present only two candidates are put to the members of the Party by the MPs from which to choose the Leader.

MPs have a vested interest in a Leadership election because inevitably they want to know what position they might hold in the new administration, so instead of voting for the best candidate they may be influenced to choose the candidate that offers them the highest position.

According to a Conservativehome poll of Party members the clear favourite to be Leader was Kemi Badenoch and yet she is not in the two names to go forward to the membership. 

A further problem with the MPs only putting forward just two candidates is there is a temptation to try and manipulate the result.   In the 2001 Leadership election the favourite candidate of the MPs was Michael Portillo, but they wanted  two anti- Europe MPs to go to the members and Iain Duncan Smith was perceived as being the weaker candidate so votes were transferred from Portillo to Ian Duncan Smith.   Due to a miscalculation Portillo ended up one vote less than Ken Clarke so he was eliminated.

Recommendation:

4. The whole election process should be conducted in one month with the MPs deciding on the four candidates within one week and the members then having three weeks to cast their vote in the final ballot.

Under the present system  the election of the Leader takes over eight weeks, a length of time decided by the 1922 Committee.

This is far too long.   The vote on the election of the Leader by Party members should be conducted by using the internet with suitable safeguards to prevent manipulation and should be done on a preferential basis so that the winning candidate is the one that gets over 50%.

Recommendation:

5. The maximum expenditure by any Candidate in the campaign for Leadership should be £50.000 with no individual donor allowed to give more than £5,000.   CCHQ should pay for the hustings and the Ballot.

I understand that in the current campaign each Candidate can spend up to £300,000 with no limit on donation, an amount determined by the Party Board.   £300,000 is an excessive amount to spend on the campaign and raising such an amount without a limit on individual donations could give rise to favours being requested or given!

Recommendation:

6. The Rules for the election of the Leader should specifically exclude  the Party Board from exercising any rights it may have under Para 17 of the Party Constitution.

The rules for the election of the Leader are determined by the Executive of the 1922 Committee after consultation with the Party Board.   However, under Para 17 of the Party Constitution the Party Board can override any rule if it considers it is in the best interests of the Conservative Party.