Priti Patel is a former Home Secretary and is the MP for Witham.
In 1990, the late, great Cecil Parkinson was my Member of Parliament. He came into my parents’ shop and he personally invited me to join the Conservative Party. We talked about our belief in advancing the cause of freedom, the positive way the Conservative government had transformed our country, and conservative values and beliefs.
From that moment on I knew the Conservative Party was my home. Joining our Party was exciting and having started my journey as a grassroots member, I remain to this day, dedicated to those same values and principles that I had when I first met Parkinson. They haven’t changed.
Like so many of our members and activists, I have spent decades pounding the pavements, persuading the public to vote for Conservative candidates standing at all levels of government. I’ve celebrated electoral successes and felt the pain of heavy defeats. I have always strongly believed that members are the heart and soul of our party.
But in recent years our members have felt let down and distanced from CCHQ, which has become a centralised institution remote from members.
Despite all the hours and efforts our members put in, they have no voice, they receive no thanks for all they do, and in some quarters they have even been denied their right to select their Parliamentary candidates. Meanwhile, the national party adopts an out-of-touch, one-size-fits-all approach instead of personal engagement alive to local needs.
And it doesn’t stop there. In the past, the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party had to be invited to attend our annual party conference. Now our conference serves corporate interests rather than its lifeblood, our members. This even though they are the very people without whom no Conservative politician could be elected. And to add insult to injury, members are then deluged with inane letters and emails asking for money.
As I travel the country listening to our members, I hear a consistent message about all this. We must listen to their concerns and complaints and address them urgently. We need to let our members’ voices be heard once more. We need to give them back their party.
I have a longstanding record speaking on Party reform to our members across the country, as you can see in previous articles here, here and here. I also recognise important contributions to debates about the future of the Party made by experienced members and thought-leaders like Paul Goodman, Tim Montgomerie, Eric Pickles, and George Freeman.
Members of the House of Lords are also in the process of reviewing the general election and their analysis and suggestions will be very welcome. We need to learn from what has gone wrong and make the changes that will enable us to win elections again.
If I have the privilege of being elected our next Party Leader, I have a clear first 100-day plan for CCHQ and a package of reforms.
I would undertake an urgent review of the Party’s financial position and campaigning structures. We’ve been through a very difficult election politically, but we face financial challenges too as we recalibrate our role in Opposition, implement a new fundraising strategy, and budget for the receipt of short money.
We also need to get sharper at responding to the policies and announcements put out by the Government and start to look at how we set the political agenda again rather than merely be responsive to it. The mechanics of being an opposition party are very different from our experience of being in government. I’ve done both, having worked for William Hague when he was Leader.
We must professionalise our campaigning approach and support for the 2025 local elections, where we are defending most County Councils, and engage with colleagues in Wales and Scotland over planning for the 2026 elections for the Senedd and Scottish Parliament.
At a time when we have to earn the right to be heard by the public, and work to restore the reputation of the Conservative Party, we cannot continue to adopt a top-down approach from the Party towards these important electoral campaigns.
We can only get ready to fight to win the next General Election if we improve all aspects of campaigning tools and rebuild trust by winning seats in local elections, returning to our position as the largest party in local government, and supporting our colleagues in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in the years ahead.
We must also enhance our Campaign Toolkit to provide an incumbency package of support and a comprehensive digital offer to support our MPs and candidates and roll this out to target seats. A localised approach to incumbency will be effective, as will speaking to our Conservative values of public service.
We must amplify the local record of delivery of Conservatives. candidates shouldn’t wait until they are elected to start accomplishing things in their area. We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind our political opponents on any aspect of campaigning, from creating new digital footprints to using the most effective ways of connecting with and beyond our base.
To begin the reform of CCHQ and its structures in the first 100 days, I will draw upon the long-standing and professional campaigning experience of colleagues such as Richard Murphy and Steve Bell who I served with on the Party Board, and regional leaders such as John Flack and Simon Jones.
I also have a wider plan to win back the trust and confidence of our dedicated Party members who want their Party back and who want to be more engaged and heard. Without our members we are nothing, but an energised and appreciated membership will play a vital role in our recovery as a Party and in winning back the trust of the British people.
I’ve been listening to our members for many years and have long believed that there is a democratic deficit in our Party. I will address it through a package of reforms, including an elected Party Chair chosen by members.
They will be accountable to our members and work with the Party Board, representatives from across the party, and our parliamentary team to rebuild CCHQ, as well as being a voice for the grassroots at the top table when key decisions are made.
Under my leadership, we will reform the approach taken to parliamentary candidate selections. The role of the central Party will be different. I will end the top-down lists being imposed on associations from which to choose candidates and candidates being parachuted in. To inspire confidence among grassroots activists, we need to trust them to decide who should represent them.
That means that before candidates are presented to associations the approved candidates list must be fully vetted and subject to a vigorous selection process. The Party centrally should support candidate training and development, but leave decisions on selections to local members.
I would also support local associations in recruiting new members, reaching out to the brightest and the best in their local communities who share our values, while also encouraging existing members with the talent and experience to be the leaders of tomorrow and put themselves forward to stand for public office, both locally and nationally.
I would help raise the standards expected of candidates, but crucially allow associations to interview and select the candidates they want. Once selected, CCHQ would work with associations and candidates to develop business and campaign plans to fundraise, secure pledges, and engage with the public.
I speak with experience from 2006 in Witham, where I was selected early in the electoral cycle, giving me the time to embed myself in the local community and build up an effective local campaign operation with our activists and councillors. We went on to win council seats too, racking up pledges and boosting our membership and activists on the ground.
If we are to fight to win back the parliamentary seats lost this year and the gains needed to return to government, then we need to set the processes in place for associations to select early and have candidates in place in key target seats before the halfway point in the electoral cycle – ideally by the summer of 2026.
Democratising our Party goes beyond electing a Party Chair and giving our members and associations a greater say over candidate selections. It’s also about embedding a culture of member engagement in the development of policies, making our Party conference a showcase event for our membership and not corporate interests, and once again becoming a mass membership movement that reflects our values – our Conservative values – which I believe are shared by the majority of the British people.
We must draw a line in the sand from our recent past, and as we earn back the trust of the British people and the right to be heard by them, we must start by empowering those who wear our Party rosette with pride, our members who are out come rain or shine, knocking on doors, campaigning for our great Party.
Priti Patel is a former Home Secretary and is the MP for Witham.
In 1990, the late, great Cecil Parkinson was my Member of Parliament. He came into my parents’ shop and he personally invited me to join the Conservative Party. We talked about our belief in advancing the cause of freedom, the positive way the Conservative government had transformed our country, and conservative values and beliefs.
From that moment on I knew the Conservative Party was my home. Joining our Party was exciting and having started my journey as a grassroots member, I remain to this day, dedicated to those same values and principles that I had when I first met Parkinson. They haven’t changed.
Like so many of our members and activists, I have spent decades pounding the pavements, persuading the public to vote for Conservative candidates standing at all levels of government. I’ve celebrated electoral successes and felt the pain of heavy defeats. I have always strongly believed that members are the heart and soul of our party.
But in recent years our members have felt let down and distanced from CCHQ, which has become a centralised institution remote from members.
Despite all the hours and efforts our members put in, they have no voice, they receive no thanks for all they do, and in some quarters they have even been denied their right to select their Parliamentary candidates. Meanwhile, the national party adopts an out-of-touch, one-size-fits-all approach instead of personal engagement alive to local needs.
And it doesn’t stop there. In the past, the Leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party had to be invited to attend our annual party conference. Now our conference serves corporate interests rather than its lifeblood, our members. This even though they are the very people without whom no Conservative politician could be elected. And to add insult to injury, members are then deluged with inane letters and emails asking for money.
As I travel the country listening to our members, I hear a consistent message about all this. We must listen to their concerns and complaints and address them urgently. We need to let our members’ voices be heard once more. We need to give them back their party.
I have a longstanding record speaking on Party reform to our members across the country, as you can see in previous articles here, here and here. I also recognise important contributions to debates about the future of the Party made by experienced members and thought-leaders like Paul Goodman, Tim Montgomerie, Eric Pickles, and George Freeman.
Members of the House of Lords are also in the process of reviewing the general election and their analysis and suggestions will be very welcome. We need to learn from what has gone wrong and make the changes that will enable us to win elections again.
If I have the privilege of being elected our next Party Leader, I have a clear first 100-day plan for CCHQ and a package of reforms.
I would undertake an urgent review of the Party’s financial position and campaigning structures. We’ve been through a very difficult election politically, but we face financial challenges too as we recalibrate our role in Opposition, implement a new fundraising strategy, and budget for the receipt of short money.
We also need to get sharper at responding to the policies and announcements put out by the Government and start to look at how we set the political agenda again rather than merely be responsive to it. The mechanics of being an opposition party are very different from our experience of being in government. I’ve done both, having worked for William Hague when he was Leader.
We must professionalise our campaigning approach and support for the 2025 local elections, where we are defending most County Councils, and engage with colleagues in Wales and Scotland over planning for the 2026 elections for the Senedd and Scottish Parliament.
At a time when we have to earn the right to be heard by the public, and work to restore the reputation of the Conservative Party, we cannot continue to adopt a top-down approach from the Party towards these important electoral campaigns.
We can only get ready to fight to win the next General Election if we improve all aspects of campaigning tools and rebuild trust by winning seats in local elections, returning to our position as the largest party in local government, and supporting our colleagues in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland in the years ahead.
We must also enhance our Campaign Toolkit to provide an incumbency package of support and a comprehensive digital offer to support our MPs and candidates and roll this out to target seats. A localised approach to incumbency will be effective, as will speaking to our Conservative values of public service.
We must amplify the local record of delivery of Conservatives. candidates shouldn’t wait until they are elected to start accomplishing things in their area. We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind our political opponents on any aspect of campaigning, from creating new digital footprints to using the most effective ways of connecting with and beyond our base.
To begin the reform of CCHQ and its structures in the first 100 days, I will draw upon the long-standing and professional campaigning experience of colleagues such as Richard Murphy and Steve Bell who I served with on the Party Board, and regional leaders such as John Flack and Simon Jones.
I also have a wider plan to win back the trust and confidence of our dedicated Party members who want their Party back and who want to be more engaged and heard. Without our members we are nothing, but an energised and appreciated membership will play a vital role in our recovery as a Party and in winning back the trust of the British people.
I’ve been listening to our members for many years and have long believed that there is a democratic deficit in our Party. I will address it through a package of reforms, including an elected Party Chair chosen by members.
They will be accountable to our members and work with the Party Board, representatives from across the party, and our parliamentary team to rebuild CCHQ, as well as being a voice for the grassroots at the top table when key decisions are made.
Under my leadership, we will reform the approach taken to parliamentary candidate selections. The role of the central Party will be different. I will end the top-down lists being imposed on associations from which to choose candidates and candidates being parachuted in. To inspire confidence among grassroots activists, we need to trust them to decide who should represent them.
That means that before candidates are presented to associations the approved candidates list must be fully vetted and subject to a vigorous selection process. The Party centrally should support candidate training and development, but leave decisions on selections to local members.
I would also support local associations in recruiting new members, reaching out to the brightest and the best in their local communities who share our values, while also encouraging existing members with the talent and experience to be the leaders of tomorrow and put themselves forward to stand for public office, both locally and nationally.
I would help raise the standards expected of candidates, but crucially allow associations to interview and select the candidates they want. Once selected, CCHQ would work with associations and candidates to develop business and campaign plans to fundraise, secure pledges, and engage with the public.
I speak with experience from 2006 in Witham, where I was selected early in the electoral cycle, giving me the time to embed myself in the local community and build up an effective local campaign operation with our activists and councillors. We went on to win council seats too, racking up pledges and boosting our membership and activists on the ground.
If we are to fight to win back the parliamentary seats lost this year and the gains needed to return to government, then we need to set the processes in place for associations to select early and have candidates in place in key target seats before the halfway point in the electoral cycle – ideally by the summer of 2026.
Democratising our Party goes beyond electing a Party Chair and giving our members and associations a greater say over candidate selections. It’s also about embedding a culture of member engagement in the development of policies, making our Party conference a showcase event for our membership and not corporate interests, and once again becoming a mass membership movement that reflects our values – our Conservative values – which I believe are shared by the majority of the British people.
We must draw a line in the sand from our recent past, and as we earn back the trust of the British people and the right to be heard by them, we must start by empowering those who wear our Party rosette with pride, our members who are out come rain or shine, knocking on doors, campaigning for our great Party.