Ulster Tories ‘will rebrand to revive election hopes’
TWENTY-two years after it first began to organise and campaign in Northern Ireland, the Conservative Party looks set to drop the word ‘Conservative’ and rebrand itself as a new vehicle to be known as ‘One Northern Ireland’.
Both Owen Paterson, Northern Ireland’s Conservative secretary of state, and key figures in Conservative Central Office are believed to be in support of the proposals.
A member of the local Conservatives, who did not wish to be named, confirmed that there were increasing concerns that “the Conservative brand has become so unpalatable for many people in Northern Ireland that we have no chance of winning over new voters. We have been at it for two decades and are now down to less than one per cent of the total vote”.
And former UUP member John Lund, a local member of lobbyists the Way Forward Group, said; “We are looking at the Bavarian model. A new party in Northern Ireland which would be affiliated to the Conservative Party, but which won’t necessarily have the word Conservative in its title because the word Conservative may be too toxic for some people.”
Mr Lund, a former member of the UUP who was a prominent supporter of the ill-fated UCUNF project, added, “Owen Paterson thinks there should be a Conservative-type party: a devolved party that is in the main party nationally. A separate party under the Conservative Party umbrella. I’m doing this with the approval of Owen Paterson and the NI Conservatives. Irwin Armstrong (chair of the NI Conservatives) and I are on the same page.”
Interesting, too, was Mr Lund’s claim that the subject had been discussed at very senior level within the party locally and that the “NI executive of the Conservative Party will back this initiative, even if it meant not using Conservative”.
Owen Polley, who was appointed campaign officer for the local Tories before the May election, said Mr Lund was not speaking on behalf of the Conservative Party.
He said: “It has been made clear to him that the Way Forward Group is his own baby and that he is not working in any official capacity.”
But nor did Mr Polley deny that the Conservatives were considering a change of name, adding, “We accept that there are potential supporters who are put off by the word Conservative and Owen Paterson is open to the idea of a centre-right party with electoral potential: rather than simply knocking on with a party getting nowhere electorally.”
And adding to the overall impression that rebranding has been discussed at the very highest levels he said, “CCHQ (Conservative Campaign HQ) wants to give the Bavarian-type model a good go. Their view seems to be that we in Northern Ireland have to go and make this work for ourselves. We were told pretty frankly that if we can’t win seats here, then what’s the point of the Conservative Party being here.”
The Bavarian model refers to the relationship which exists between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) parties. They sit as a joint parliamentary force in the German Bundestag, but the CDU does not field candidates in Bavaria and the CSU doesn’t stand outside Bavaria.
If this is what the Conservative Party is looking at then it would mean that any candidate elected on a ‘One Northern Ireland’ ticket would take the Conservative whip in Westminster or the European Parliament, while ‘One NI’ would be a separate party with its own whip and agenda in the Assembly and local councils.
Mr Polley confirmed that “we need a Northern Ireland base and identity. The Conservative Party is seen as an English party. So the new party would be affiliated to the Conservative Party but allowed to pursue an agenda in the assembly, as long as it wasn’t too much at variance with the Conservative Party nationally”.
This is, more or less, the relationship which existed between the Tories and the Ulster Unionists between 1921 and 1974, when the then Conservative leader, Edward Heath, withdrew the Westminster whip because the unionist MPs would not support the Sunningdale Agreement.
Irwin Armstrong, chairman of the local Conservatives, did not deny that a change of name was being discussed, but said “I don’t want to make any specific comments that would jeopardise any progress being made. And I don’t think the word toxic is appropriate for the Conservative name, it just isn’t viewed as local.”
But Mr Armstrong did refer to a press statement he released last week, which more or less confirmed that changes were afoot. It said: “The Northern Ireland Conservatives held their AGM on Monday evening in East Belfast and elected their executive for the incoming year.
“The Secretary of State attended the meeting and gave a very positive message about national politics...utilising this support we have been working closely with CCHQ and the leadership over recent months to arrive at a strategy that will enable us to develop the centre ground of One Northern Ireland, One Community, One Future politics and to ensure we have candidates elected at all levels to further those objectives.”
Sources suggest there is widespread support for a change of name among local Conservatives, although one member did say: “We know that some people won’t be happy. But some would prefer to have 10 members and 50 votes under the Conservative Party brand than a more popular party linked to the Conservatives and with a much greater voter appeal.”
Mr Polley, who will be one of the key people involved in any rebranding and re-launch, admitted that “it has become increasingly difficult to convince people that the Conservative Party is here. So either you pack up or try and find a way of attracting that pool of centre-right pro-Union people who are not voting – but who might be attracted by this new vehicle. The general feeling among local Conservatives is that we have to put up or shut up. No point in being a party if you aren’t getting any votes.”
Neither Mr Paterson nor his political adviser, responded when invited to comment on the contents of this story.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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