Conservative party membership halves since 2005

By Elizabeth Rigby

Membership of the Conservative party has almost halved under David Cameron’s leadership, fuelling Tory unease that Downing Street’s efforts to modernise the party are alienating traditional Tory supporters.

After weeks of pressure from Conservative Home, the activist website, the party published figures on Wednesday showing membership had fallen from 253,600 in 2005 to 134,000.

Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home and a former Tory MP, said the “bad headlines that will follow are outweighed by the gain of putting the issue to the rest, at least for the moment”. 

Downing Street published the figures on the day that Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, addresses his annual party conference in Glasgow. They were widely reported in the media.

The party has in part released the figures also to dispel speculation that membership had fallen below 100,000, sparking concern among some activists over the party’s ability to campaign in key seats in 2015.

Labour said the drop was a “damning indictment of Cameron’s out of touch and weak leadership”. But it is also a feature of modern politics, with all three main parties seeing a dramatic reduction in membership over the past few decades.

The eurosceptic UK Independence Party, said the figures proved that the membership was disillusioned with the Tory leadership. 

“Our membership has doubled to 30,000 in that period,” said Gawain Towler, Ukip spokesperson. “We congratulate the Conservative party for having the courage to [publish] those figures on the day Nick Clegg is speaking but this highlights that the membership of the Conservative party are voting with their feet.”

Mr Cameron’s relationship with grassroots Tory party members have been tested in recent months. 

The prime minister’s determination to push through a vote to legalise same-sex marriage as part of his modernisation project provoked fury in many Conservative associations. At the time, MPs spoke of the fierce resistance and disappointment in their local parties and many lost members over the issue.

The prime minister’s decision not to hold a referendum on EU membership until after the election has also angered many grass roots members: Adam Afriyie, the MP for Windsor, was cheered on Saturday when he told a conference of 250 activists that he wanted the prime minister to deliver a referendum next year. 

One Tory MP said it was imperative that Mr Cameron tried to rebuild the grassroots in the run-up to 2015. “The party cannot rely on big donors alone. City bankers don’t deliver leaflets at elections. Cameron could learn from Obama in re-engaging in the grassroots through online engagement and new media interactivity – through this all age groups can be reached.” 

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.