"That blue thing with red flames"

That, according to James Naughtie, is the current Conservative logo, the Flame of Freedom in an item this morning on the proposals to change the party logo.  The Today Programme is suggesting that people email them with ideas as to which animal best represents the modern Conservative Party. How helpful of them. Iain Dale trailed the item on his excellent blog yesterday and went on the programme to represent the voice of reason but I'm not convinced Mr Naughtie was listening. The Guardian has also got in on the act with suggestions of a Cup of Blood, a Barbed Wire Umbrella etc etc, (although, being the Guardian, they dated the emergence of the torch to 1987, which is several years too late).  I'm sure they mean well.  Just like Pol Pot.

The Flame has had a chequered career, apparently invented on Lady Thatcher's orders when she noticed the Party didn't have a logo. It has gone through various incarnations:

(1) the squashed ice cream cone:

(2) the burning ice cream cone:

The logo was revamped when Kenneth Baker became Chairman - summed up by The Telegraph at the time with the phrase "excuse me old chap, do you mind holding my ice cream for me? It seems to have caught fire".

(3) the dynamic swirl:

In various shades, either blue or yellow. Brought in by William Hague.

(4) the socialist realist torch:

It's time to roll up our sleeves and storm those barricades - brought in by Michael Howard in 2004 (and still the official version for use on ballot papers).

(5) the caring, sharing socialist realist torch:

Which is what we have at the moment.

There's a running theme here: when the Party wants to mark out decisive new territory, it changes it's logo.  And why not?  I spoke last night to the highly-trained management consulting team at Norton Industries (they were in their cage holding a tea party having just typed up a play about a mad Dane who thinks his uncle killed his father - but that'll never catch on) and this is what they suggested:

You'll notice immediately that it comprises a shield (because we'll protect you); a laurel wreath (because we're winners, and green); and the Union Jack (because we believe in the British Nation, One Nation etc).  You'll notice even more immediately that it isn't very good - which is why I am prepared to make it available to CCHQ for the bargain basement price of £50,000 + VAT and p&p.

Can you do any better?  As strong believers in the wisdom of crowds (and the hope that we can save zillions of pounds for the Party on rebranding consultants), we are unveiling another Conservative Home Competition: Design The New Logo.  Impressive judges to be announced; exciting prizes to be unveiled shortly (probably a Wish You Were Here T-shirt from Gaza, or wherever Montgomerie's gone) to be presented in the near future at a prestigious Central London railway station.

Send us your suggestions - even better, some mock-up images.  Bonus points for those who suggest outlandish new fonts.  Tips to bear in mind: it has to symbolise what the Conservative Party is (now?) all about; it has to be distinctive; and above all it has to be easily reproduced in miniature form on a ballot paper without becoming undecipherable.  Enjoy.

William Norton

UPDATES: Email submissions to sam@conservativehome.com

Click on images to enlarge them

For reference here are the Welsh Con, UUP, Scottish Con, and DUP logos:

Kris Fogarty:

Chris Palmer:

Ash includes the Home Nations:

Jon Gale uses the popular Oak tree idea:

Keir Gravil:


Michael Alldis:


Ted Coffin:


Sam Oakley's phoenix, horse, lion and oak leaf:



Matt Johnson offers a template:

Kieran McDonagh:


Krieg Barrie (ConservativeHome's resident artist):

Comments

[David Banks]

i like the white horse above , although to my knowledge the white horse is a saxon emblem of England rather than a symbol with broadly british connotations. it might need a bit of explaining but it looks good.

How about four hands coming together to form a big X shape. One hand being red ( ulster) one green ( wales) one blue (scotland) and one white ( england)?

[kris F]

I have asked my parents what they think of the logos (they are as traditionalist as you can get) and after they recovered from the shock that the logo was being revised i showed them this site and the offerings available. They liked the Lion ideas best but they did think that Sam Oakleys horse was very nice too. So thats a view from the right fringe of the party for you.

[Richard]

"bring back national service to sort out teenage crime."

What about teenagers who aren't involved in crime? Will they be required to sign up? .

[Alan T]

I don't think any of the suggestions above have potential apart from the 'moving Wales forward' and moving England forward' designs. They're great. Well done to whoever designed them. Those two I can see working though the 'British' and 'Scottish' versions fo the same design need some work. The British version is too much like an insurance logo and the Scottish thistle has a very dated look; a better thistle might improve it.

[David Banks]

do we really need regional variations in logo? If we had one logo that incorporated everyone we wouldn't need to fiidle around with different plants and fonts. After all the Lib Dem parrot doesn't turn into a blue tit in scotland.

[kris F]

Well i think that a lot of the suggestions have potential, i am very impressed. It's very easy to criticise, lets see your ideas then Alan T. I think this exercise has shown that the conservative party has some truly dedicated and thoughtful supporters who have thought up some great ideas for the party logo, in the hope of saving the party some colossal expense of hiring some PR firm. I think we should all be proud of all the entries. Well done all.

[Political Thinker]

While I personally don’t mind our current logo, I do see the benefit it may have with the wider public and of course the floating voter. It is vital that we do not dismiss the importance an image can have for a company, or of course in our case, a political party.

To be honest, from all the examples listed above, I must say that I most prefer those of Ash and Chris Palmer. I also like those of Sam Oakley, yet am sceptical as to whether they would be powerful enough due to them being so faint and fragile, so to speak.

In regards to using a lion and incorporating the Union Flag, I don’t see a problem, and do believe it can be done, however it must be very subtle and very well worked. The only concern I would have over using a lion would be how similar it would look to the DUDUP logo.

[keith]

To Kris_F. Sure national service would be good it would give people coming out of school or college who dont have a job some needed funds. They wouldnt be expected to fight, mostly they would be on the logistical side of things :).

[David Banks]

One might as well suggest that all young people should be sent to prison but that the more innocent ones should have cushy jobs as trustees. Your belief in the beneficial effects of robotic discipline, bullying and ultra macho posturing is sadly misplaced.

[David Banks]

Anyway,returning to the issue of the party logo, after that tangent off into the pros and cons of National service (?) , i have just watched 'this Week' with Portillo and Andrew O'Neill. Portillo suggests some bizarre metrosexual teletubby on a bicycle while Diane Abbott suggested a wolf in sheeps clothing. Hmmm ,,well i suppose she is Old Labour. Rather intruigingly Portillo (i think) then suggested 'the other way round surely' , implying that the party is a Sheep in Wolf's clothing. If i could tie this in to Keir gravils excellent huskie dog above we could be a husky ( eco friendly) in sheeps clothing( a nice party).

[SimonNewman]

I still think the lion with union jack flash is the best of those above, though the dolphin is nice!

"A logo that projects our modern compassioante conservative stance would be much better and would appeal to the soft tory swing voters we must win back."

Well we need to appeal to C2 males as much as AB females - in the '90s the Conservative party lost support amongst a broad swathe of the electorate, not just the moderately liberal middle classes. I call it the "Lion & Dolphin" strategy. ;)

[David Banks]

Absolutely ( bit lost in all this C2 /AB business but i think i've got your point). What your saying is , it can't be all pastel hues and Friends of the Earth fridge stickers theres got to be a bit of meat, a bit of welly about it.

[David Banks]

So, would the lion and the dolphin be facing each other behind a shield , do you think?

Maybe , and this is just a tentative suggestion, we should have DC's face as the logo?

Maybe we could have a blue compass pointing to North East? (rightwards , you see)

[SimonNewman]

David:
"Absolutely ( bit lost in all this C2 /AB business but i think i've got your point). What your saying is , it can't be all pastel hues and Friends of the Earth fridge stickers theres got to be a bit of meat, a bit of welly about it."

Yup, that's my point. C2/AB I used the advertiser-speak for social classes, but they break down pretty much as follows:

A - Upper Class & Upper Middle Class
B - Middle Class
C1 - Lower Middle Class/white collar clerical
C2 - Upper Working Class/Skilled Manual
D - Working Class/Semi-Skilled Manual
E - Lower Working Class/Unskilled & unemployed

My understanding is that traditionally Conservatives got most of the A & B votes, especially among women, but New Labour took a bunch of these with Blair's cuddlier image. C1s are middle England and tend to vote Labour if public sector, Conservative otherwise. Non-unionised C2s are an important swing category, Thatcher got a lot of support there. Ds and Es tend to have low voter participation rates (except pensioners, who get pegged in these categories by advertisers due to low income, but otherwise don't really fit) and relatively few non-pensioner Ds & Es vote Conservative.

[David Banks]

Thanks thats great, i understand! I'm currently an E but in the past i was a D. I am one of the few non pensioners who vote Tory who you mention.i have aspirations to make it up to C2.
i would try and compare my unemployed / low skills lifestyle with others and see if they vote tory too but most of my friends are C1's.
It gets even more complex when you factor in religious factors. as a Catholic i belong to a community that overwhelmingly votes Labour and is frequently viscerally anti - unionist. But yet again, good eggs like ann Widdecombe fly both flags like myself.
Thanks so much for your info

Dave

[David Banks]

Have just thought..........

HOW ABOUT A BLUE LION WITH A TORCH!

Best of both worlds!

[Ralph Tuckwell]

What about a pair of crossed croquet mallets?

[Patsy Sergeant]

I must say I do rather like Ash's union/lion facing left, above 'Conservatives'. The whole look is strong, and I like the way that this particular lion looks both angry and quite aggressive - AND is facing LEFT!!

I also liked his design above the one I have just mentioned 'Moving Britain Forward', but I think the lion one is stronger, and would probably therefore appeal to men more!

[ThePrince]

Keith, are you joking if not 4 and 5 don't go together. Writing as an 18 year old I would be ... ... well not pleased if I was sent off to do National Service and this is a sentiment shared by most of youth of this country. Anyway, National Service is a rather blunt instrument; it’s like sending the neighbours of a criminal when they have done no wrong. However, it is a sound idea if you want to destroy the party’s electoral prospects.
p.s. I am sorry about this it is just the notion of doing national service is terrifying and really quite annoying.

[David Banks]

How true. It's not just 18year olds who are against it neither, as a 30 year old with bad eyesight , bad feet and an aversion to uniforms you can count me out too.

[David Banks]

Ralph , loving the croquet mallet idea , but isn't that the insignia of the current Deputy Prime Minister?

[Keir Gravil]

There are some really good logo suggestions, especially Ash's. Michael Aldis' design reminds me of the Canadian Conservatives logo.

[David Banks]

Great! Are Canadian Conservatives cool?

[Richard Foley]

No matter how much people like the oak tree and all it represents, it should be pointed out that it isnt actually a natural tree of the UK it was imported from Europe, there are a few natural trees from the uk one being the Ash or Yew.

[Michael]

Well done...... it was based on the Canadian Conservatives logo, because i liked it and their in power at the moment, so that helps!

[Alan T]

Kris F. I don't have any suggestions because I'm not an artist. It's a logo comptetion if you're not prepared to have someone say they don't like your suggestion then don't enter. I wasn't unduly mean I just said which suggestions I did and didn't like. I would add to my list of impressive suggestions the 'oak tree' logos which have been added sicne my last post- though the symbolism is distinctly English as opposed to British.

[Alan T]

I missed the post about the oak not being a UK native so maybe it's not as distinctly English as I thought. I do seem to recall the oak/tree being used by a number of other organisations though so maybe it's a tad cliche.

The idea of a bike is interesting. I would like to see it in a different design to the one above though. It captures environmentalism. It ties in nicely with David Cameron- the personality- and symbolizes change/moving forward, as well as tipping the cap to Norman Tebbit (& the tory right)and the Protestant Work ethic mob.The bike lends itself well to a narrative about fusing traditional tory values while embracing modernity.

[David Banks]

Isn't there a road safety organisation that has a bike as its logo? Or is that those signposts for cyclepaths i'm thinking of?
My problem is that a little picture of a bike doesn't look very inspirational, while the Labour party conference closes with the 'red flag' are we going to have an en masse sing song of tht Queen hit ' i want to ride my Bicycle ' to show we're more modern than 'land of H and G?'

[James]

I like the entrusting people one, DC is always going on about that!

[David Banks]

ooh i've just seen sam Oakleys lion! Its great !. Congrats Sam. Not so keen on some of the other more recent ones. Still good ideas - the Fast foward one disguises the fact that when we get into power we'll need to spend a lot of time fixing things Labour has broken but its catchy , direct and doesn't look too threatening. still not sure on the tree motif. As a gardener if i saw a blue oak i would tend to think there was something wrong with my eyes. Not that the world is chockablock with blue lions but hey thats the joy of design...

[David Banks]

I'm slightly nicking this idea from a very clever chap caled Peter Dawson ( hi Peter!) but what about a shooting star with a rainbow trail ( cos its now OK to be gay , you see!). Mr Dawson deserves credit for the shooting star but the rainbow bit...that was me. anyway we could have a slogan like ' Vote blue go Gay' say.

[Nelson, Norfolk]

Some excellent logo suggestions. I like the oak tree and the one sent in by Michael Alldis. Have a look at http://conservative.ca/ Perhaps we can with modifications have a similar logo here.

[Deckchair of despair]

Ted's dolphins appear to be engaging in sexual congress (unless it is simply that one of them [the blue one] is getting a free ride on the back of the other). I'm not trying to be negative, merely pointing out things which you can be sure will be seized upon by those who are visceral enemies of the Conservative Party, and which must, therefore, be avoided.
How about this, to combine some of the elements mentioned above: a lion and a dolphin riding a tandem under an oak tree, with a rainbow above it, both of them holding a squashed ice-cream cone. (only kidding)

[Ted]

DoD - really! Moved the d*****d things so many times to try to make sure they looked innocent (but then apparently dolphins are famed for their open enjoyment of physical activity). But you are right that the connatations are what matter.

Personally out of my entries I preferred my "bike train" Conservatives which followed the guidelines for interesting font and has deep underlying symbolism with the patriotic Chameleon cycling hard pulling the party towards his objectives , the resting tiger in the middle for the mass of the membership and the daft duck at the other exreme....:-)

[SimonNewman]

I like Krieg Barrie's trees, the first good-looking tree logos, but my vote is going to have to go to Sam Oakley's lion - it's fantastic! I love the look on its face.

[David Banks]

Its fab isnt it! What do you think of the RAF style ones at the bottom though? Quite intriguing i thought.

[Michael]

I like the ones at the bottom too, again they remind me of the canadian conservatives logo, simple and effective!

[David Banks]

Do you think we should get to together with these canadian tories, get some sort of power sharing / exchange trips set up? Maybe like in the old days of the USSR when the usual Labour suspects would be invited to fact finding cultural tours of the Workers Paradise , we could be whisked off to a country where the Conservatives are in power.

[Kris F]

I have to say, i think that Sam Oakley's blue Lion is fantastic! What a wonderful image. I also Love Krieg Barrie's Blue Tree, excellent variation on the theme. I can't wait to find out which ones will go through to the final competition. Best of luck all of you, i think we have done our party proud.

[Kevin Lohse]

Dear William. The national flag is NOT repeat NOT, the Union Jack. It is only so called when flown from the jack mast (the little one at the pointed end) of one of Her Majesties' ships. That is precisely the sort of lefty flippancy which is giving rise to "new labour lite" comments. Please promise me that you will buck up.
Kevin Lohse

[Yet Another Anon]

Jon Gale's White Oak actually looks more like a Mushroom than a tree, or even a Mushroom Cloud rising up in the sky with it's bluish background.

The Blue Oak looks like some kind of novelty flavoured ice - Blueberry perhaps.

[David Banks]

Hey , a mushroom cloud , great symbol - particularly if we take action against Iran.

[nibletteski]

David, being an Iranian, I find your comment highly immature. You obviously haven't got any artistic flare as you did not submit an idea.

[James W]

The Tories now fully support the Iraq war (instead of Howard's sensible sceptical approach and despite most members opposing it) and university tuition fees (despite them being unpopular) and will abandon the previous opposition to the EU fisheries policy. With so few policy areas different to New Labour would a blue rose not be appropriate?

[Pete]

I think the oak leaf as a logo as already been bagged by the National Trust.

[Alison Anne Smith]

"How many roads must CCHQ travel down before it admits that its lost? The Party should ditch the current angry worker logo" supposedly posted by me in June ? Has someone at Conservative Home been editing the thread ? This will be my last post if the site is not safe

[Alison Anne Smith]

"How many roads must CCHQ travel down before it admits that its lost? The Party should ditch the current angry worker logo" supposedly posted by me in June ? Has someone at Conservative Home been editing the thread ? This will be my last post if the site is not safe

[Renny]

Really like the mod one - but I think Brit pop is dead already.

The lions of Zion one is a very funny idea - I would love to see Dave Cameron with dreadlocks promoting this. Jah rastafari

[Yet Another Anon]

but I think Brit pop is dead already
I hope so!

[matt wright]

I am not convinced by the oak tree. It is not distinctive in small print. It is also hard to translate into Scottish and Welsh formats,

Matt