PREVIOUS CONSERVATIVE CHAIRMEN

1930-1931

Neville Chamberlain Drafted in to stop party infighting, despite conflict resolution not being his strongest suit

1946-1955

Lord Woolton Churchill’s wartime food minister became a long-standing post-war chairman

1974-1975 William Whitelaw

Senior member of the Heath team who graduated to be Thatcher’s trusted aide

1981-1983, 1997-1998 Cecil Parkinson

Grammar schoolboy who became the party’s most successful chairman

1985-1987 Norman Tebbit

Helped third Thatcher election victory with the slogan ‘The Next Move Forward’

1989-1990 Kenneth Baker

Steered the party during poll tax – right up to the moment of Thatcher’s downfall

1990-1992 Chris Patten

Helped John Major to unexpected victory in 1992, but lost his own Bath seat in the process

2002-2003

Theresa May The kitten-heeled chairman did her prospects the world of good

2021 Oliver Dowden

Former culture secretary turned co-chairman, alongside Ben Elliot, the Duchess of Cornwall’s nephew