Tory members want an elected Chairman

Tim Montgomerie

Paul Goodman has recently written a series of posts on the future of the party organisation.

In the latest monthly survey we put some of his key recommendations to the vote and the results can be seen in the graphic below.  Click on the table to enlarge.

There is also strong support for a move back to the seaside for Tory Conferences (where prices are much lower), transparency of party accounts and more mergers of Tory Associations to pool resources.

The most controversial finding is that two-thirds of members want a directly-elected Chairman. 23% oppose this idea, perhaps fearing that the post could be used by a rival to the party leader as an alternative source of power. That is, indeed, a real danger.

A Chairman would give members someone dedicated to their concerns, however. An independent Chairman could be particularly important in these days of Coalition. David Cameron may be leader of the Conservative Party but his first priority is, rightly, his job of Prime Minister. Second in the pecking order is the challenging task of keeping his Coalition partners happy. Leading the Tory Party is his job number three. There is a case for someone to get up each and every morning with the task of producing the best possible Tory campaign machine and a winning policy manifesto for 2015. I see no chance of Mr Cameron agreeing to an elected Tory Chairman, however.