Conservative members may get say over next Tory party chairman

LIZ TRUSS is open to giving the membership a say over the next Tory party chairman, it has emerged.

The Foreign Secretary was asked at a private event for card-carrying Conservatives in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire whether she would allow members to elect their own chairman.

She is understood to have responded that she is not against the idea and sources in her campaign later confirmed that she is considering it. Ms Truss was quizzed on the issue by John Strafford, the chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, which represents grassroots activists.

“Just as she was leaving the event, I said that we need an elected party chairman who is accountable to members,” he said. “She said that she is not against it. This will go down very well with party members”.

A source in Ms Truss’s campaign confirmed that she is “willing to look into it” as part of “broader commitments” to having a stronger party chairman. They added: “Liz is out there listening to ideas and open to hearing what members think. As prime minister her focus for the party would be winning the next election, supporting associations and MPS and making sure the members and local associations feel empowered.”

It comes amid a rift between Conservative MPS and a portion of their membership who remain loyal to Boris Johnson and feel he was unfairly pushed out of office.

More than 10,000 members are thought to have backed the “Boris ballot” campaign to change the leadership rules to insert Mr Johnson as a candidate in the final round.

The campaign, spearheaded by Lord Cruddas, the Tory donor and billionaire financier, had hoped to change the rules to effectively give members a referendum on Mr Johnson’s decision to stand down by inserting him as a third candidate on the ballot.

While the “Boris ballot” campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, it highlighted a split between some Tory grassroots members who felt the Prime Minister had been ousted from office in an undemocratic manner by senior members of his Cabinet.

Last week, David Campbell-bannerman, a former Tory MEP who was coordinating the drive with Lord Cruddas, urged Conservative Party members not to spoil their leadership election ballots or write Boris Johnson’s name on them.

He said that though the “Boris ballot” had not materialised, “efforts do continue” to restore him as Prime Minister.

Mr Strafford has written to both leadership candidates with proposals aimed at making the Conservative party more accountable to its members.

He says that as well as the chairman of the party, the treasurer, the chairman of the candidates committee and the chairman of the policy forum should all be elected by members.

In his letter, he explained the need for reform, saying: “You will know how [we] urgently need to repair the damage that has been done and we believe our reforms are part of a programme that [can] bring the party back together.”