Ellis Holden is Deputy Chairman for the Broxbourne Young Conservatives.
Picture the Arabian desert before the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The place Lawrence of Arabia once traversed. Coming into contact with various nomads, tribes, and warlords across the harsh terrain of blistering heat and endless sand. It is an unforgiving and ruthless terrain that requires experience and fortitude to preserve within.
That is the situation the Young Conservatives now face itself. Although Chesil Beach can’t boast such a stretch of sand as big as the Arabian desert, the harsh and unforgiving political landscape for Young Conservatives quickly replaces the arduous geographical landscape of the desert.
With various warlords, in this case what remains of YC groups or University Societies sparsely populating the party, taking their place. There are pockets of cooperation alliances such as in the North East with York, Newcastle, and Durham.
However, there is little in the way of contact between other organisations. There is no central authority, CCHQ has seemingly long abandoned any resemblance of initiative with the Young Conservatives, considering the youth vote has recently not been our forté. The organisations that remain are much smaller than they once were.
Our would-be recruitment initiatives of going into schools and giving presentations are mired with the education system’s disdain for anything to the right of the Liberal Democrats and the need for political neutrality, where it suits them. For those who remain, the hope lies in the old-fashioned and the modern, combining local canvassing and advertisement drives.
We might see an uptick. Although we may be tempted to organise nationally, the way we return to appearing down to earth is by bringing our image back to representing our local communities as Young Conservatives.
In its largest form, we should organise as counties with a bi-annual meet up as a region, such as Yorkshire, East Anglia, or the West Midlands. This then builds a regional identity around new organisations formed which would make it easier for Young Conservatives as an organisation to be governed aside from hopelessly operating on a national basis.
A lot of existing YC branches operate within a small confined area. I, myself am a Deputy YC Chairman of the stalwart Conservative seat of Broxbourne where we’ve been lucky to recruit Young Conservatives who have fed into being councillors or members of the local board.
However, a lot of areas are not so lucky. Despite my above evocation to think locally as a region. Organising exclusively as districts have now become obsolete. Those areas with greater recruitment than others must pull neighbouring members or supporters out of the rubble of the recent collapse and incorporate them into their groups.
This allows existing YC groups to expand operations while keeping the message and focus local. While those who have successful recruitment drives in their areas can continue their work.
To stress, this does not mean we cannot discuss national or global issues within the collectives we form. It is paramount we do so. However, we must hold these discussions locally or within our conservative societies. We have previously dreamed of national organisations or forming our own think tanks. Time has buried all of these efforts. Even Young Conservative Network has now been relegated to a mere group chat.
Organising regionally and locally increases the potential for physical meetups and an opportunity to build social cohesiveness that has not been possible when looking nationally. My point is we have tried to organise as a national body, and where has it got us?
With YCs feeling disenfranchised because there is a lack of will to travel across the country to meet up nationally because most can’t drive yet, so we’re forced to take trains which is both costly and unreliable. Meaningful national discussion is stifled.
If CCHQ wishes to do something to rebuild the Young Conservatives, they must work with regional leaders to achieve an effective rebuild. First, they must help fund advertisement initiatives online and on social media to reach young people with their local YC Chairman or Chair of their Association.
Then once there has been a sufficient number of sign-ups. CCHQ could then help fund classically popular pizza nights for their YCs across their county to familiarise YCs with each other while simply building a cohesive group to regularly meet up at the most convenient time.
The YCs who do remain are the ride-or-die activists who have worked hard to serve the party but unfortunately haven’t seen much of a return on their investment. The message I send to my compatriots is this: CCHQ will continue to cater to the older generation’s vote. It is time to roll our sleeves up and start recruiting ourselves, because nobody is going to do it for us.
Ellis Holden is Deputy Chairman for the Broxbourne Young Conservatives.
Picture the Arabian desert before the formation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The place Lawrence of Arabia once traversed. Coming into contact with various nomads, tribes, and warlords across the harsh terrain of blistering heat and endless sand. It is an unforgiving and ruthless terrain that requires experience and fortitude to preserve within.
That is the situation the Young Conservatives now face itself. Although Chesil Beach can’t boast such a stretch of sand as big as the Arabian desert, the harsh and unforgiving political landscape for Young Conservatives quickly replaces the arduous geographical landscape of the desert.
With various warlords, in this case what remains of YC groups or University Societies sparsely populating the party, taking their place. There are pockets of cooperation alliances such as in the North East with York, Newcastle, and Durham.
However, there is little in the way of contact between other organisations. There is no central authority, CCHQ has seemingly long abandoned any resemblance of initiative with the Young Conservatives, considering the youth vote has recently not been our forté. The organisations that remain are much smaller than they once were.
Our would-be recruitment initiatives of going into schools and giving presentations are mired with the education system’s disdain for anything to the right of the Liberal Democrats and the need for political neutrality, where it suits them. For those who remain, the hope lies in the old-fashioned and the modern, combining local canvassing and advertisement drives.
We might see an uptick. Although we may be tempted to organise nationally, the way we return to appearing down to earth is by bringing our image back to representing our local communities as Young Conservatives.
In its largest form, we should organise as counties with a bi-annual meet up as a region, such as Yorkshire, East Anglia, or the West Midlands. This then builds a regional identity around new organisations formed which would make it easier for Young Conservatives as an organisation to be governed aside from hopelessly operating on a national basis.
A lot of existing YC branches operate within a small confined area. I, myself am a Deputy YC Chairman of the stalwart Conservative seat of Broxbourne where we’ve been lucky to recruit Young Conservatives who have fed into being councillors or members of the local board.
However, a lot of areas are not so lucky. Despite my above evocation to think locally as a region. Organising exclusively as districts have now become obsolete. Those areas with greater recruitment than others must pull neighbouring members or supporters out of the rubble of the recent collapse and incorporate them into their groups.
This allows existing YC groups to expand operations while keeping the message and focus local. While those who have successful recruitment drives in their areas can continue their work.
To stress, this does not mean we cannot discuss national or global issues within the collectives we form. It is paramount we do so. However, we must hold these discussions locally or within our conservative societies. We have previously dreamed of national organisations or forming our own think tanks. Time has buried all of these efforts. Even Young Conservative Network has now been relegated to a mere group chat.
Organising regionally and locally increases the potential for physical meetups and an opportunity to build social cohesiveness that has not been possible when looking nationally. My point is we have tried to organise as a national body, and where has it got us?
With YCs feeling disenfranchised because there is a lack of will to travel across the country to meet up nationally because most can’t drive yet, so we’re forced to take trains which is both costly and unreliable. Meaningful national discussion is stifled.
If CCHQ wishes to do something to rebuild the Young Conservatives, they must work with regional leaders to achieve an effective rebuild. First, they must help fund advertisement initiatives online and on social media to reach young people with their local YC Chairman or Chair of their Association.
Then once there has been a sufficient number of sign-ups. CCHQ could then help fund classically popular pizza nights for their YCs across their county to familiarise YCs with each other while simply building a cohesive group to regularly meet up at the most convenient time.
The YCs who do remain are the ride-or-die activists who have worked hard to serve the party but unfortunately haven’t seen much of a return on their investment. The message I send to my compatriots is this: CCHQ will continue to cater to the older generation’s vote. It is time to roll our sleeves up and start recruiting ourselves, because nobody is going to do it for us.