Why the Tory membership crisis matters
Conservative Party received more money from dead donors than living members last year
The crisis in Tory membership has been laid bare by official data that shows the party received more money from dead donors than it did from living members last year.
Party accounts filed with the Electoral Commission show the amount of money the Conservatives generated in membership fees dropped 43% in 2017 to just £835,000. Meanwhile, the Tories were given £1.7m in 2017 in the form of bequests.
The figures stand in stark contrast to membership income from Labour, which grew 12% to £16.2m last year, and the Liberal Democrats who saw their revenue from fees rise by over a third.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Labour was reliant on a small number of wealthy donors and “even [Labour leader Jeremy] Corbyn’s critics have been surprised by the way his popularity has turned around the party’s funding model”, says The Guardian.
By contrast, The Daily Telegraph says the huge reduction in Tory membership fees “raises major questions about the health of the party’s grassroots” and “is likely to spark major concerns about the future of the Conservative Party and reignite calls for more to be done to recruit new members, particularly in younger generations”.
While the exact number of Tory members has not been made public, it is believed to be around 100,000, fewer than the half a million members who make up the Labour rank and file.
The data also comes “amid ongoing concern within the Conservatives about the party’s dwindling activist base, not to mention a new entryism threat from supporters of the Brexit-backing Leave.EU group”, says The Independent.
Yet while the Tories’ dwindling membership has been labelled “embarrassing” by former party chairman Grant Shapps, the 100,000 or so, predominantly ageing, grassroots members still retain an inordinate amount of power.
Under party rules, anyone who has been a member for more than three months can vote for their preferred candidate from a shortlist of two, selected by Conservative MPs in a series of ballots.
This has raised fears that the roughly 88,000 Leave.EU members could swing a potential leadership contest, and therefore the next prime minister, in favour of a hardline Brexiteer candidate such as Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.
On yet another front, the chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, John Strafford, has written to the Tory party board urging a rule-change so that any MP with the support of a mere 20 parliamentary colleagues can go forward to a final ballot of the grassroots members.
The reason, says Matthew D’Ancona in the London Evening Standard, is that Brexiteers fear Tory MPs “might contrive to exclude Boris Johnson (or his understudy, Jacob Rees-Mogg) from the final pair of candidates put forward to the membership”.
Since William Hague changed the Tory leadership election rules 20 year ago in a bid to keep out Europhile rival Ken Clarke, “the spirit of the age has shifted even farther towards direct democracy and populism” says D’Ancona. “Strafford’s proposal — which would all but remove Conservative MPs from the selection process — is in keeping with this zeitgeist”.
That said, “in findings that will offer some relief to the prime minister”, an ICM survey for The Guardian found that voters believe the Tories would be more likely to lose the next election if Theresa May was replaced by Johnson or five other potential successors.
The only scenario deemed likely to improve Tory prospects, according to the poll, was if the party was led by an unspecified person who was “quite young and able [and] not currently in government”, potentially raising the prospects of Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How powerful is Iran?
Today's big question Islamic republic is facing domestic dissent and 'economic peril' but has a vast military, dangerous allies and a nuclear threat
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Olympics 2024: is Paris ready to party?
Talking Point Build-up to this summer's Games 'marred' by rows over national identity, security and pollution
By The Week UK Published
-
Solo travel: the 'ultimate indulgence in 2024'
The Week Recommends Why more of us are choosing to go on holiday on our own
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Is David Cameron overshadowing Rishi Sunak?
Talking Point Current PM faces 'thorny dilemma' as predecessor enjoys return to world stage
By The Week UK Published
-
How will honeytrap scandal change Westminster?
Today's Big Question Security procedures laid bare by spear phishing attack as focus shifts to 'political insider' being responsible
By The Week UK Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Farewell to Theresa May: a PM consumed by Brexit
Talking Point Maidenhead MP standing down at next general election
By The Week UK Published
-
Britain's biggest political donors
The Explainer With the 2024 general election set to be the highest-spending contest ever we look at who is giving to which party and why
By The Week UK Published
-
Can Boris Johnson save Rishi Sunak?
Today's Big Question Former PM could 'make the difference' between losing the next election and annihilation
By The Week UK Published
-
Badenoch, Johnson or 'full Trump': who is the future of the Tory Party?
Today's Big Question Tory moderates are preparing to do battle with the right of the party in a post-Sunak leadership election
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
It's the economy, Sunak: has 'Rishession' halted Tory fightback?
Today's Big Question PM's pledge to deliver economic growth is 'in tatters' as stagnation and falling living standards threaten Tory election wipeout
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published