Julian Ellacott is the new Chairman of the National Convention and has served at all levels of the voluntary party over the past 25 years,
So, we are all back home from Conference for another year – and no doubt collectively surprised at how upbeat it was, not only for us who were there but also in terms of the external coverage.
Member numbers were up, fringes were packed (with queues outside) and the ICC echoed with whoops and cheers as the leadership contenders passed through. The organising team, led by Michael Winstanley as Conference Chairman and Simon Chatfield as CCHQ lead can pat themselves squarely on the back for a job extremely well done.
Setting aside the excitement of the leadership contest, what are we to take from this Conference in terms of the future of the event itself? How can we ensure similar positivity in future (without resorting to a leadership contest every year)?
There is no doubt about the importance of Conference – both financially for the Party and as the moment in the year when the Tory tribe and its various hangers on get together.
In economic jargon, there are huge agglomeration effects from concentrating so much activity – and so many people – in once place at the same time, and we would be foolish to move away from this model.
Despite that, we must listen to the criticisms that are made and address them as far as we can. Here are two that I often hear, and think we can do more to address:
It’s not member focussed enough – or- it’s too lobbyist and business focussed:
The reintroduction of member debates by the Party Chairman this year addressed a prevalent criticism – and seemed to go down well with members. I would like to see these debates built on next year, with shadow ministers not only responding to the points raised from the floor, but also explicitly using them as a way of identifying members with imaginative ideas and experience in the relevant field to help our shadow teams with policy development, alongside the Conservative Policy Forum.
In relation to business attendance, personally I have never had any truck with this criticism – the event is big enough to be multi faceted, with members able to have a plethora of events (across the main hall and fringe) to occupy us, unaffected by business events happening in other parts of the conference centre. As noted earlier we all benefit from the extra activity, and having senior people in one place at the same time who might not otherwise attend.
It’s too expensive to attend:
This is a concern which I do share – not necessarily in relation to entry to the event itself (which this year was held at a very reasonable £66 until fairly late in the day), but in relation to accommodation and other costs. Prices rack up in nearby hotels significantly during Conference, often costing between £500 and £1,000 for a full stretch at the event.
Whilst there are booking services for both Birmingham and Manchester, these tend to focus on the large corporate hotels in the centre – and not on the cheaper, smaller hotels and guest houses slightly further out.
As someone who has stayed further out myself in the past, it is certainly a viable option (albeit slightly less convenient). We should look at whether we can do more to help delegates search for cheaper accommodation and try to secure discounts on local public transport and/or Uber.
Improving Conference essentially comes down to a careful consideration of the different types of attendee and working out how best to cater to them. Even “members” as a category need to be broken down into groups and considered separately – highly active and experienced volunteers (eg members of the National Convention), members interested in policy, councillors, aspiring Parliamentary candidates, etc. All have different motivations, preferences, and probably also budgets.
So, if the position of the main annual Conference is secure (albeit with room for some improvements), what of other events during the year? Spring Forum has had a mixed past, rarely hitting the spot (Blackpool in 2022 was a rare recent exception). Chopping and changing its purpose and often announcing it late in the day inevitably have a negative impact on attendance.
My own view is that we should build on the growing number of regional conferences, which have the benefit of being easier and cheaper for local members and activists to attend.
These are mostly organised and run by volunteers – this should remain the case but we should explore whether the highly capable CCHQ conference team could support these events in specific ways, enabling them to grow and to happen annually.
This could include promotion, ticketing, guaranteeing top speakers and finding national sponsors – in return these conferences could include some national content, such as training. The successful Campaign Academies earlier in the year could provide a template.
Other bodies within the Party already do provide (or have done in the past and could once again) the platform for smaller conferences, enabling us to engage yet more members – Conservative Womens’ Organisation, Conservative Policy Forum, the National Convention. Each has a specific membership or focus, and attracts people who wouldn’t or can’t come to the main conference. The growing band of “Friends of” groups could be another source of events in future, and similar to the regional conferences, could be offered a standard package of support from CCHQ.
Even at a basic logistical level, a single calendar of all such conferences over the forthcoming year would enable us to avoid date clashes and enable members to plan ahead.
At the end of the day, the one thing that all of us activists agree on is that we love to get together in person, gossip, share ideas and work on what we do next. At our successful South West Regional conferences I would always open by saying that whenever we Tories get together, we solve problems together (a process which one senior activist imaginatively describes as “cross-wobbling”).
This year has proved (if proof ever was needed) that Party Conference remains the focal point of the Party’s year. The more that can be done to build and improve on it, the better.
Alongside that, we should use our collective efforts to organise complementary events across the country and across the year, to appeal to the broadest range of members possible. The more “cross-wobbling” opportunities we can create (and not just on the dance floor), the better.
