I am not a member of the Conservative Party. As I said in my first post, I will consider joining if the election manifesto is good enough. But it would be largely symbolic.
I already vote Tory, I volunteer for my local candidate and I get the party newsletter. Indeed, because of my volunteering, I also get invited to the local association’s events, despite not being an official member.
So what would be the benefits of me joining the party? Firstly, it would be a gesture. It would be a formal way of showing my confidence in the Conservative Party to drag us out of the hole Labour have got us into. It would also allow me to have a say in the selection of local candidates, attend the party conference and vote in national leadership elections.
But – and this is a pretty big ‘but’ – does that make it worthwhile? The Conservative Party is increasingly going down the open primary/open caucus route for candidate selection. While this is expensive and is not the norm, I think it will become so over the next few years. It is no secret that party membership – across the political spectrum – is declining. Parties need to reach out to non-members now more than ever. Opening up the candidate selection process is an excellent way of doing this. Party members may be left with the choice of who is on the shortlist, but even that is being undermined by the national party parachuting its preferred candidates into place.
Also, David Cameron is likely to be Conservative leader for a long while yet. I do view having a vote in a leadership election as important, but it doesn’t look like there will actually be one in the near future. Anyway, Boris Johnson was selected as Tory candidate for London in an open primary. Perhaps future party leadership contenders will be selected in the same way?
That leaves us with the other benefit: the right to go to the party conference. This is potentially very worthwhile; people I know who have been were very positive about the experience. However, it does seem to be more of a big PR opportunity – and a social occasion – than a meaningful forum for debate. It seems very stage-managed and, well, a little bit fake. Fun, yes, but actually useful?
Overall, it seems that the best reason for joining is for the symbolism. It shows a confidence in the Conservative Party to fix our economy and mend our society. Other than that, though, party membership really does seem to have a diminishing importance.
Ironically, it seems that the actions of the Conservative Party itself have contributed to the declining importance of membership. The party is very good at reaching out to voters who are not paid-up members. The open primaries and caucuses (the selection of Boris has been the best example so far), the option of people becoming ‘friends’ of the party and – most recently – the launch of myconservatives.com have all reached out to non-members in a big way. Now that anyone can donate to campaigns (both national and local), volunteer for them and increasingly have a voice in the selection of local candidates, the role of the traditional party member and local association seems to be decreasing.
I don’t believe that this is a bad thing. Politics is at its best when it reaches beyond the political class. Engagement with non-members is vital for a modern political party, and it is laudable that the Tories have made so much effort to do it so far. Long may it continue!
The side effect of this, though, is that it’s hard to come up with many good reasons to actually join the party. I seem to get most of the benefits anyway!
Perhaps, if the current trends continue, fee-paying membership of political parties might even become extinct…
N.B. Obviously I’m not a party member, and there may be vital points that I’ve missed here. I don’t think there are many, but if you can think of some please let me know!
