The Establishment strikes back!
Richard you can do better than this. Start by getting my name right and also the abbreviation of Campaign For Conservative Democracy!
The following article appeared on Richard Robinson's web site:
Is the Conservative Party Dead?
A couple of weeks ago, John Stafford published an article on his Campaign for Conservative Democracy (CCCD) website, that asked, “Is the Conservative Party Dead?”
John is a long‑standing Conservative activist who has become the leading voice for Party reform through the CCCD, a grassroots initiative advocating greater accountability, transparency, and member participation within the Party.
He founded the CCCD in the mid-1990s and although I was aware of his advocacy, I didn’t meet him until 2005, when we found ourselves on the same side, opposing Michael Howard’s proposed changes to the Constitution.
His argument now is that the Party has become over-centralised, with CCHQ taking control of fundraising, policy, the party conference and the approval of parliamentary candidates.
In making his argument he makes a number of contentious statements:
The candidates’ list was packed with “Lib/Dem inclined people, careerists who were in politics for the money because they could not get a job elsewhere.”
The Party has been taken over by the big donors and “did not want members”, but would rather like to be “like the Republican Party of the USA which is not a membership organization”.
“The voluntary Party now mainly comprises Councillors and their families”.
His prescription is a member-led party with an annual general meeting, members largely running party conference and appointing The Party Chairman, Two Deputy Chairmen, Treasurer, Chairman of the Candidates Committee and Chairman of the Policy Forum.
In making his case, he relies on a nostalgia for a golden age of party democracy that never existed, but I think he does reflect genuine issues for the Party and we need to engage with his criticisms. I don’t, however, believe that the solution is in the institutional changes he proposes.
There has been real change under new leadership. New candidate selection rules put Conservative principles at the heart of the approvals process and there is a strong commitment to giving associations the final say on candidate selection. The Conference committee is committed to increasing the voice of Party members at Conference. We will need to go further.
In my view, however, the greatest shift we need is cultural. CCHQ has to be much more a service organization to associations, and much less Command and Control.
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