Picking a new PM is an important task – no wonder Tory membership is exploding
Ifirst met Theresa May more than a decade ago, on a sunny weekend in Great Yarmouth. I was a year into my role as the parliamentary candidate for the constituency, tasked with overturning Labour’s 3,000-strong majority. We were lucky enough to have been inundated with ministerial visits – though I soon learned that they tended to whisk in for a photo and a quick media interview before heading off to their next destination.
Not Theresa May. Her team asked what would be most useful, and we cheekily suggested canvassing, not dreaming for a moment that she would want to do that. But she jumped at the chance, and spent the afternoon battling it out in our toughest Labour ward. On the doorstep, and in private, I am often struck by her down-toearth normality and good humour, and her care for others – whether dancing around a piano on a rare evening off or helping young women take their first steps into politics.
I am thankful to Theresa May for the many years she has devoted to the party. She was a party activist and a councillor before she became an MP, and as Prime Minister found time to knock on doors and campaign most weekends. Her deep commitment to the party and its values of patriotism and public service are an example to us all.
We now find ourselves looking ahead to what comes next for our party, and the leadership contest
that will begin shortly. In my role as chairman I have the enormous privilege of spending much of my time travelling up and down the country, meeting volunteers, activists and officers who make up our Conservative family. Members are deeply aware of their responsibility in selecting not just the leader of our party, but the prime minister.
I am conscious, too, that many outside our party will know little about the voters who will make this decision. When I took on my role last January, I made it clear that building and professionalising our membership was a key priority. That is why I brought in specialist staff to improve our retention of members, centralised the administration of membership and built our campaign manager programme to drive steady, daily recruitment on the ground of those who share the party’s aims and values.
This work has meant that in a year we have grown our membership from 124,000 in March 2018 to more than 160,000 today. And new members have not always come from the expected places. The growth rate has been much higher in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland than in England. And the areas in England where we have seen the biggest boost have been the East Midlands (39 per cent) and the North East (37 per cent). We have also grown our youth membership by 64 per cent, and established 100 Young Conservative branches in the past year.
What our members care about
– such as a strong economy and providing homes that they can afford to buy or rent – are issues that chime right across the country. They want to see our planet protected for future generations, and investment in our NHS. And they know Conservative ideas and values have never been more vital. Party members have told me time and again that we need to come together and take on Labour to ensure we never allow Jeremy Corbyn – a man who has shown himself to be unfit to govern this great country – into Downing Street.
This is a vitally important moment for our nation and our party. The challenges that face us have never been clearer. But, as someone who must and will remain studiously neutral in this contest, I am more confident than ever that my fellow Conservatives are up to the task. Like all our members, I love this party, and I will do everything possible to ensure Conservative Campaign Headquarters delivers a process of which we can be proud.
Brandon Lewis is MP for Great Yarmouth and Chairman of the Conservative Party
This is a vitally important moment for our nation and our party… and my fellow Conservatives are up to the task