Christopher Chope is the MP for Christchurch
We Conservatives are now in our ‘last chance saloon’. If we fail to choose the right leader for our party this time, we will neither be able to nor deserve to reverse our political fortunes. After the 1997 General Election – in which my election in Christchurch was the only Conservative gain – we didn’t choose a winning leader until the fourth attempt. We cannot afford such navel-gazing self-indulgence again.
Our party has to rebuild from its foundations – its members. The number of members has dwindled as their power and influence has been taken away. First in the election of Rishi Sunak and, more recently, they were deprived of the ability to choose the leader and their local Parliamentary candidates. The imposition of a single candidate on Basildon and Billericay, which had been requesting for more than six months to start the selection process, was rightly ridiculed as undemocratic. The inflation-busting increase in the cost of membership and the almost daily demands on members to ‘chip in’ have also contributed to membership plummeting to its lowest-ever level.
My recommended remedy, based on my experience as a Vice Chairman of the party in 1997 under Cecil Parkinson, is to launch an immediate drive to recruit new members and attract back the deserters. First, we must halve the cost of joining or rejoining the Conservative Party for all those who pay before 31st December 2024. Secondly, we must guarantee all new members recruited throughout 2024 a decisive stake in choosing our next leader and new Parliamentary candidates. The election of the new leader by party members should take place next April and not before.
What would happen in the interim? The Parliamentary party should elect a temporary leader who would undertake not to be a future leadership candidate. That temporary leader would undertake not to be a future leadership candidate but would invite all leadership aspirants to take leading Shadow Ministerial roles – perhaps even on a rotating basis – so that MPs and party members could see them in action. Next February the Parliamentary party would hold hustings and elections to produce a shortlist of two candidates from whom Party members would choose.
This agenda could be delivered within the framework of the Party’s existing Constitution. It would enable both party members and Conservative MPs to feel relevant again. We need to eliminate the destructive introspective factionalism which is already beginning to manifest itself with threats and counter threats of refusing to accept candidate ‘x’ or candidate ‘y’.
Never again must members of the Parliamentary party refuse to accept the members’ choice of leader. The party belongs not to its MPs but to its members. That should be a unique selling point to those who have not yet woken up to the fact that Reform UK is essentially a limited company owned by its leader with no democratic involvement.
We must learn the lessons of the past. Volatility in politics isn’t new and can be exploited to our benefit. As an example from my time, in 1974 I was one of twelve Conservatives elected to Wandsworth Council up against fifty-eight Socialists. Four years later we won and Wandsworth then remained Conservative for forty-four years until 2022.
The second lesson is that not only do divided causes never win but they can make matters even worse. In response to Margaret Thatcher’s great victory in 1979, Labour split. As a direct result, I was able to win Southampton Itchen, the only seat that Labour had retained in the whole of the south of England in 1979. Conservatives benefited again from the Labour/SDP split persisting in 1987. This shows that the task of reuniting the right must not be delayed. We must go on the counter-attack against our political enemies on the left by undermining the cosy, covert Lab/Lib pact which added to our woes this time while also resisting the encouragement of the media to vilify our natural supporters on the right.
There is no substitute for a first-class party organisation and skilled campaigning. In 1983 our polling day tellers enabled us at lunchtime to know from the comparative turnout of our canvass supporters that Southampton Itchen would be won if campaigners from other constituencies joined us for the ‘knock up’ that afternoon and evening. Hundreds came from across Hampshire and Dorset to help deliver victory. By contrast, on 4th July, fragility caused by organisational failure and neglect left many of our ‘safe seats’ defenceless against the political tide. Good organisation on the day could have saved many seats which were lost.
Conservatives must concentrate on issues and not personalities. We overcame UKIP in the Cameron era by embracing their policy for a referendum. Boris Johnson won his large majority in 2019 by entering into an arrangement with Nigel Farage to unite the right. We have common ground with Reform UK on so many of our policies and we must work together to achieve the shared aim of defeating socialism and ensuring that the right-thinking majority of electors are represented in government and not relegated to the sidelines of politics.
Christopher Chope is the MP for Christchurch
We Conservatives are now in our ‘last chance saloon’. If we fail to choose the right leader for our party this time, we will neither be able to nor deserve to reverse our political fortunes. After the 1997 General Election – in which my election in Christchurch was the only Conservative gain – we didn’t choose a winning leader until the fourth attempt. We cannot afford such navel-gazing self-indulgence again.
Our party has to rebuild from its foundations – its members. The number of members has dwindled as their power and influence has been taken away. First in the election of Rishi Sunak and, more recently, they were deprived of the ability to choose the leader and their local Parliamentary candidates. The imposition of a single candidate on Basildon and Billericay, which had been requesting for more than six months to start the selection process, was rightly ridiculed as undemocratic. The inflation-busting increase in the cost of membership and the almost daily demands on members to ‘chip in’ have also contributed to membership plummeting to its lowest-ever level.
My recommended remedy, based on my experience as a Vice Chairman of the party in 1997 under Cecil Parkinson, is to launch an immediate drive to recruit new members and attract back the deserters. First, we must halve the cost of joining or rejoining the Conservative Party for all those who pay before 31st December 2024. Secondly, we must guarantee all new members recruited throughout 2024 a decisive stake in choosing our next leader and new Parliamentary candidates. The election of the new leader by party members should take place next April and not before.
What would happen in the interim? The Parliamentary party should elect a temporary leader who would undertake not to be a future leadership candidate. That temporary leader would undertake not to be a future leadership candidate but would invite all leadership aspirants to take leading Shadow Ministerial roles – perhaps even on a rotating basis – so that MPs and party members could see them in action. Next February the Parliamentary party would hold hustings and elections to produce a shortlist of two candidates from whom Party members would choose.
This agenda could be delivered within the framework of the Party’s existing Constitution. It would enable both party members and Conservative MPs to feel relevant again. We need to eliminate the destructive introspective factionalism which is already beginning to manifest itself with threats and counter threats of refusing to accept candidate ‘x’ or candidate ‘y’.
Never again must members of the Parliamentary party refuse to accept the members’ choice of leader. The party belongs not to its MPs but to its members. That should be a unique selling point to those who have not yet woken up to the fact that Reform UK is essentially a limited company owned by its leader with no democratic involvement.
We must learn the lessons of the past. Volatility in politics isn’t new and can be exploited to our benefit. As an example from my time, in 1974 I was one of twelve Conservatives elected to Wandsworth Council up against fifty-eight Socialists. Four years later we won and Wandsworth then remained Conservative for forty-four years until 2022.
The second lesson is that not only do divided causes never win but they can make matters even worse. In response to Margaret Thatcher’s great victory in 1979, Labour split. As a direct result, I was able to win Southampton Itchen, the only seat that Labour had retained in the whole of the south of England in 1979. Conservatives benefited again from the Labour/SDP split persisting in 1987. This shows that the task of reuniting the right must not be delayed. We must go on the counter-attack against our political enemies on the left by undermining the cosy, covert Lab/Lib pact which added to our woes this time while also resisting the encouragement of the media to vilify our natural supporters on the right.
There is no substitute for a first-class party organisation and skilled campaigning. In 1983 our polling day tellers enabled us at lunchtime to know from the comparative turnout of our canvass supporters that Southampton Itchen would be won if campaigners from other constituencies joined us for the ‘knock up’ that afternoon and evening. Hundreds came from across Hampshire and Dorset to help deliver victory. By contrast, on 4th July, fragility caused by organisational failure and neglect left many of our ‘safe seats’ defenceless against the political tide. Good organisation on the day could have saved many seats which were lost.
Conservatives must concentrate on issues and not personalities. We overcame UKIP in the Cameron era by embracing their policy for a referendum. Boris Johnson won his large majority in 2019 by entering into an arrangement with Nigel Farage to unite the right. We have common ground with Reform UK on so many of our policies and we must work together to achieve the shared aim of defeating socialism and ensuring that the right-thinking majority of electors are represented in government and not relegated to the sidelines of politics.