Conservative Future

Conservative Future
Chairman	Ben Howlett
Founded	7 October 1998
Headquarters	30 Millbank, London
Mother party	Conservative Party
International affiliation	International Young Democrat Union
Website	http://www.conservativefuture.com

Conservative Future, abbreviated to CF, is the youth movement of the Conservative Party in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The organisation is made up of all members of the Conservative Party who are 30 years old or younger.

Conservative Future was founded in 1998. By 2006, it was the largest political organisation on British campuses and the estimated membership, including members on campuses and through constituency associations is 20,000.

Conservative Future Scotland is the autonomous sister organisation of CF in Scotland. Internationally, Conservative Future participates in the centre-right International Young Democrat Union.

History

Conservative Future was formed on 7 October 1998 as part of a major series of cross-party reforms introduced by then party leader William Hague. Part of the reforms including the merging of the three movements that specifically handled youth affairs within the party: the Young Conservatives, the Conservative Collegiate Forum, and the National Association of Conservative Graduates. The merger of the organisations into a single body was controversial and opposed by most members and officers of the three organisations at the time.^{[citation needed]} A key change was that whereas members of the party 'opted in' to join the three organisations, under the new unified organisation membership would be automatic for all members under 30. The name 'Conservative Future' stems from the title of the party reforms 'The Fresh Future' and was only intended to be temporary. The first national chairman was the last head of Conservative Graduates, Donal Blaney, followed by Gavin Megaw, who had been the chairman of Conservative Students in its last year of existence.

At its launch, the party's national performance and dwindling activist base led to the closure of most former Young Conservative branches and student branches struggled to attract members. As formal membership records were not kept on a national database there have never been any accurate membership figures for the youth organisations before or after the creation of Conservative Future.

In 1999 Conservative Future attracted national attention following a re-branding exercise that used the slogan "CFUK", a twist on the French Connection FCUK brand. The CFUK branding was to be used on promotional material for university branches from late August to mid October 1999 but the threat of court proceedings from French Connection over breach of copyright led to Conservative Future withdrawing the promotion in early October, just before the end of the campaign.

The organisation was estimated to have 10,000 members by the time of the 2001 general election, making it the largest party political organisation in the country, bigger than Young Labour and Liberal Youth combined.

In 2002, Conservative Future gained two positions on the national executive committee of the National Union of Students, marking their first return in seven years. This was followed up by a national tour of universities, called 'Politics Unplugged', which involved ten Shadow Cabinet members and was aimed at making politicians more approachable. CF gained further traction in 2003 and 2004, after it was announced that the party announced it would scrap university tuition fees. In 2004 alone, membership rose by 3,000, but stagnated at 15,000 members until the election of David Cameron as party leader.

Cameron's election was seen to be emblematic of a change of Conservative Future's image to 'cool', replacing the symbolism of the 'Tory boy' stereotype of previous years. This occurred most dramatically from 2006 onwards, particularly in northern England. Described by Geordie Greig as 'counter culture', this change is ascribed to 'Saatchi-isation', named for former Party Chairman Maurice Saatchi, and ideological alignment to the so-called 'Notting Hill Set' of the party leadership.

Purpose

CF's purpose is to encourage Conservative Party values and assist in local and general elections. Conservative Future is aided in its aims by Members of Parliament (MPs) and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) with visits to branches. They participate in lectures, debates and many more activities. Many members of Conservative Future branches often go on to contest local and national elections, and the organisation as a whole is increasingly turning to the internet to attract new active members.

Conservative Future also plays an important role in the party's campaigning. Described as the Conservative Party's 'shock troops', CF made a major contribution to the parliamentary by-election victories in Crewe and Nantwich in 2008 and Norwich North in 2009. They thought they were significantly more numerous, visible, and active than Labour's young supporters in the 2008 London mayoral election, in which young voters were one of the key demographics of Boris Johnson's vote. Michael Rock said that one of CF's virtue is being able to take part in stunts and activities that older members can't. A notable contingent from Conservative Future went to the United States to campaign for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election.

Organisation

Branches

Conservative Future branches can vary in structure. It has branches at most British universities, but also has a number of branches affiliated with city and town associations. These branches aim to attract members from the non-student population. However, some branches are now bringing together both types of organisation. Newcastle-under-Lyme and Keele University Conservative Future is an example of a hybrid university and town branch. Some County areas operate, in effect, as one large branch, so that their members have many more opportunities to get involved.

National Executive

Conservative Future is run by a National Team, elected annually, to represent the membership and to implement its aims and objectives. The chairman, currently Ben Howlett, is supported by six other members of the National Management Executive, with the option to co-opt three further members.

The National Executive currently is;

• National Chairman: Ben Howlett
• Deputy National Chairman (Political): Phillip Smith
• Deputy National Chairman (Membership): Sarah Jane Sewell
• Best Practice Officer: James Deighton
• Chairman of the Regional College: Matthew Robinson
• Director of the CF Policy Forum: Appointment ongoing

The Rest of the Executive are currently being appointing, in his 2011 Manifesto Howlett plegded to introduce the roles of Director for Women Candidates and Director of Fundraising and Publicity although applications for these positions have not yet been announced, unlike the role of Director of the CF Policy Forum.

Regional Chairmen

Regional Chairmen co-ordinate CF Activity in their Areas and are in charge of a Regional Execuitve. The Current Regional Chairmen for each Region are;

• Robert Manning – North West
• Shane Moore – North East
• Sarah Nazer – Yorkshire and The Humber
• Usman Ahmed – West Midlands
• James Poland – East Midlands
• Will Burstow – South West
• Nicolas Clark – London
• James Morton – South East
• James Jefferys – Wales
• Samantha Hoy - Eastern
• Matthew Robinson - Northern Ireland

Former National Chairmen

• Donal Blaney (1998–1999)
• Gavin Megaw (1999–2000)
• Tom Bursnall (2000)
• Hannah Parker (2001–2002)
• Justin Tomlinson (2002–2003)
• Paul Bristow (2003–2005)
• Nick Vaughan (2005–2006)
• Mark Clarke (2006–2008) (one, extended, term)
• Michael Rock (2008–2010) (one, extended, term)
• Ben Howlett (2010 – Incumbent)

External links

• Official Conservative Future site
• Official Conservative Future Scotland site