Archive for conservative party
“Cameron’s charm fails to halt slide in party membership”
So writes The Independent:
David Cameron’s charm offensive has failed to attract new members to the Tories – or keep hold of tens of thousands of people who were already in the party when he arrived.
Local Conservative parties have lost almost a quarter of their rank-and-file members since Mr Cameron took over in late 2005…
The total [...]
Are Tory bloggers less trustworthy than Labour or Lib Dem ones?
Rather bizarrely, that looks to be the view of the Conservative Party’s Press Office. At the tail end of July, their attitude towards bloggers caught some attention following the refusal of a Conservative press officer to even email an already published letter to a Conservative blogger.
PR Week this week reports that the Conservatives have now [...]
Conservative Party Press Office doesn't get blogging
A quite remarkable account over at Tory-Politico of the Conservative Party Press Office’s unwillingness to provide basic information – a copy of a public letter to Gordon Brown from David Cameron – to a blogger: Bloggers don’t count as media so I can’t send it to you. And in answer to the blogger’s request to [...]
Conservatives expel branch chair for saying vote UKIP
Iain Dale has the story of Ralph Buckle, the chair of University of York Conservatives until he called for people to vote UKIP. He’s now an ex-chair and ex-member.
A Conservative, a Facebook profile, an expulsion
From the Sunday Mirror:
A Tory activist has been expelled from the party for posting a picture of himself with a Hitler moustache on Facebook … And beside it, in the “My Favourite Quotes” section, he allegedly made racist and sexist comments, including one saying: “I don’t hate everyone, I just hate women …
A spokesman said: [...]
Jeremy Thorpe interview
I carried out this interview with Duncan Brack for the Journal of Liberal History in 2000, at a time when Charles Kennedy was Liberal Democrat leader, William Hague was Conservative leader and Tony Blair was approaching his first general election since becoming Prime Minister in 1997. Jeremy Thorpe was elected as leader of the Liberal [...]
Conservative Party faces investigation over controversial donations from Said family
The Electoral Commission is investigating tens of thousands of pounds the Conservative Party has received from the Said family, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Wafic Said was a key figure in the highly controversial Al-Yamamah arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Allegations of corruption surrounding the deal were being investigated by staff at Britain’s [...]
More Euro troubles for Conservatives as donor backs UKIP
Fresh on the heels of the news that Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson is thinking of quitting the Conservative Party comes this news via The News of the World:
The Tories’ top donor today told the News of the World how he has defected to the eurosceptic UK Independence Party.
Spread-betting millionaire Stuart Wheeler has written a cheque [...]
Lord Ashcroft and the Conservative Party: the financial controversies
With Michael Ashcroft back in the news over his financial support for the Conservative Party, this post provides a quick recap of the past controversies over Michael Ashcroft, the Conservative Party and political funding.
Ashcroft’s sequence of senior Conservative posts
Under William Hague, Ashcroft was Treasurer of the Conservative Party (1998-2001), becoming a peer and member of [...]
Conservatives back themselves into an economic cul-de-sac
For a decade and more, the Conservative Party has struggled to find popular support for its economic policies. Faced with the twin burdens of the early-1990s recession and public scepticism that their tax and spending plans were not savage cuts to public services in disguise, over the last three general elections the Conservatives failed to [...]
