Oxford University Conservative Association

The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student political organisation founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future, the Conservative Party youth wing. Until her death on 8 April 2013, the Patron of the association was Margaret Thatcher. In the summer of 2015, Sir John Major became the new patron of the association. The Honorary President is Jacob Rees-Mogg.

OUCA alumni include many prominent Conservative Party figures, including former Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers. Among them are William Hague, Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Grieve. Past presidents of OUCA include Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, Jonathan Aitken, William Rees-Mogg, Daniel Hannan and Nick Robinson. Former OUCA committee members or officers include Theresa May, Sir George Young, Ann Widdecombe, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Earl of Dartmouth. Former Labour ministers Ed Balls and Chris Bryant are also OUCA alumni.^[1]

Committee

OUCA is run by its officers and committee, who are elected on a termly basis. The association has six Senior Officers, namely the President, the President-elect, the Treasurer, the Treasurer-elect, the Secretary, and the Political Officer, who chairs Port & Policy each week and is also responsible for organising campaigning events and social action. Four Junior Officers also help manage the association, as do its six committee members. OUCA's returning officer is responsible for running the elections and for administering association's internal disciplinary procedures. The President may appoint non-executive officers, such as a press officer. The association's Rules and Standing Orders are available on its website.^[2]

Events

OUCA events and activities vary considerably, depending on the President and committee, but all activities follow five main strands; Port and Policy; speaker meetings; campaigning; social events; and social action.

Port and Policy

OUCA's most popular regular event is Port and Policy, in which political discussion is helped along by fortified wine. Between Trinity Term 1994 and Michaelmas 2012, Port and Policy was held eight times a term on Sunday evenings in the Oxford Union. In Michaelmas 2012 the Oxford Union did not renew the contract,^[3] and OUCA now uses other Oxford venues. Although the format is decided by the President and the Political Officer, two pre-announced motions are usually debated, followed by an emergency motion. The debate is held in a relaxed environment, accompanied by port. In May 2007, Port and Policy featured in the Channel 4 documentary Make Me a Tory. Port and Policy has been sponsored by The Spectator, who provided numerous complimentary copies of their publication, and Dow's Port, who provided discounted port. The growth in attendance at Port and Policy was featured in the Financial Times as evidence of growing popularity for the Conservatives among students.^[4]

Speaker meetings

The president of the association is responsible for organising the term's events and inviting guest speakers. Past speakers have been Margaret Thatcher (November 2002), John Major (April 2010, May 2016), David Cameron (May 2008), Nigel Lawson (November 2011), Michael Howard (February 2007 and June 2008), Liam Fox (October 2011), Michael Ancram, Edward Leigh, George Osborne, Alan Duncan, John Redwood, Ann Widdecombe, David Davis, the Earl of Onslow, Iain Duncan Smith, David Willetts, Oliver Letwin, Lord Patten, Brian Mawhinney (October 2012), Daniel Hannan (October 2012), Jeremy Hunt (October 2012, March 2017), and Andrew Lansley (November 2012, March 2017). More recent speakers include Theresa May (December 2015), Nicky Morgan (May 2016), and Michael Heseltine (June 2016).

Campaigning

OUCA often campaigns in local and general elections in other constituencies.^[5] During the 2010 British General Election, OUCA campaigned in Oxford West and Abingdon, where the Conservative candidate, Nicola Blackwood, overturned the Liberal Democrat MP, Evan Harris, by a small majority. In the run up to the United Kingdom general election, 2015, which saw Blackwood's majority go up from 176 to 9,582 votes, OUCA campaigned every week in that constituency. OUCA campaigned in London in support of Boris Johnson for the 2012 London mayoral election, as well as in Conservative marginal seats like Chippenham (UK Parliament constituency), South Swindon (UK Parliament constituency) or Sherwood (UK Parliament constituency).

Social events

Although social arrangements are left to the discretion of the President and the Social Secretary, they usually include a garden party in Trinity term, and trips to London to visit Parliament in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms. In Trinity term there are occasional sporting fixtures against the Oxford Union and Cambridge University Conservative Association. From time to the time the association also hosts events with Conservative think tanks and pressure groups, including the Freedom Association,^[6] the Army Benevolent Fund and the Adam Smith Institute. In recent years OUCA's termly Poker Night has become popular, as has its pub quiz.

Social action

OUCA engages in social action by supporting the Icylon Smith Foundation and the Companions of the Order of Malta to help the homeless population in Oxford, working with the elderly via ISIS House, and with special needs children via KEEN (Kids Enjoying Exercise Now). In addition OUCA financially supports charitable organisations, making regular contributions and often holding a termly charity Port & Policy whose profits are donated.

Relationship with the national Conservative Party

Until recently, OUCA was an independent organisation, and not part of the national Conservative Party, nor of its youth wing, Conservative Future. Relations between OUCA and the national party were weak. For example, OUCA (like Cambridge University Conservative Association, Durham University Conservative Association and University of York Conservative and Unionist Association ) was automatically treated as separate from Conservative Future when the latter was founded in 1998. After various unfavourable reports in the national press, Conservative Party Central Office was normally quick to distance itself from OUCA. On 6 October 2009, however, the association voted to become affiliated to the Conservative Party, and it is now an official representative branch of Conservative Future.

In March 2010, an OUCA event in support of Oxford West parliamentary candidate Nicola Blackwood was used to launch Conservative Future's national Time to Get Involved campaign.^[7]

OUCA members sometimes stand for election to Oxford City Council. The council has traditionally been Labour-dominated, and the Conservatives have not held a seat on it since 2001. Alex Stafford (President, Michaelmas 2007) stood unsuccessfully for Holywell Ward in the 2008 Oxford City Council Election, achieving an 8.2% swing for the Conservatives. His brother Gregory, now a councillor in the London Borough of Ealing, stood in the same ward in 2004. More recently, Poppy Stokes and OUCA President, Maryam Ahmed stood for the Conservatives in the 2014 Oxford City Council Election in the Holywell and Carfax wards respectively. This trend of putting up students as candidates in the city centre continued in the 2016 city council election, when OUCA President, George Walker, stood in Holywell Ward.

Oxford University Tory Reform Group

Julian Critchley described the OUCA that he encountered on his arrival at Pembroke College in 1951. Despite its 2,000 members, he said, "it was dominated by a patrician clique who preserved their power by preventing the membership at large from electing officers of the association. These were chosen by the committee which, although directly elected, was easily open to manipulation." Critchley and Michael Heseltine, defeated in their bids for OUCA office, set up a rival Conservative society, the Blue Ribbon Club.^[8]

In 1965 a group of OUCA members formed the Oxford University Tory Reform Group, pre-dating the national Tory Reform Group organisation. The OUTRG acted as a "one nation conservative" pressure group in Oxford, although it had a substantially smaller membership than OUCA. Interest declined as the national party became more moderate, and the OUTRG voted to disband and merge with OUCA during Michaelmas term 2007.

In an email to OUTRG members, its president Luke Connoly reported that an extraordinary general meeting held at the Lamb and Flag public house at 3 pm on 18 November 2008 unanimously voted to dissolve the OUTRG as of midday Saturday 8th week (1 December 2007) and to merge with OUCA. He cited falling attendance and a belief that OUCA had "genuinely become more liberal", adding that the merger "will make debate between wings of the party much easier and more productive". Later in the year, Douglas Hurd, a patron of the national TRG, lamented the disbanding of the Oxford Branch, saying that it was "very important that the One Nation view is powerfully represented".^[9]

In the media

The Channel 4 documentary Make Me a Tory, produced by Daniel Cormack, aired on 13 May 2007. It included footage from one of OUCA's Port and Policy meetings and an interview with Conservative party leader David Cameron.^[10][11]

In Trinity Term 2010, just over a week before the 2010 General Election, the Oxford Mail reported John Major's visit to the association.^[12] The Daily Mail newspaper subsequently reported the event and criticised The Oxford Student newspaper for its "anti-Tory" coverage.^[13]

In Hilary Term 2011, Courtney Love took part in a Port and Policy event. She joined the association, and the president appointed her non-executive officer for rock and roll.^[14]

Controversy

Accusations of racism

In 2000 four OUCA members were expelled from a meeting for making "Nazi-style salutes".^[15] The New Statesman reported that a member of the OUCA committee at the University's 2001 Fresher's Fair greeted new students by saying, "Welcome to OUCA – the biggest political group for young people since the Hitler Youth".^[16] Another member was dismissed from the Oxford University Student Union's executive for "marching up and down doing a Nazi salute".^[16] In 2007 a drunken OUCA member gave a Nazi salute at a meeting attended by a former Tory MP.^[17]

In 2004 an ex-treasurer of the association was found guilty of bringing OUCA into disrepute "after posting 'offensive' comments about India in a newsletter".^[15] At an OUCA hustings in 2009, two candidates made racist jokes, encouraged by others present. The incident led to national media coverage^{[18][19][20][21][22]} and an investigation by the University,^[23] which then refused to re-register the association, forcing it to drop University from its name^[21][24][25] and become OCA (Oxford Conservative Association). As a result of the incident, two members were expelled from the national Conservative party,^[19] and the Oxford Union banned OUCA from using its premises for hustings and in-camera events.^[26]

In 2011 The Oxford Student newspaper received leaked video footage of an OUCA member singing the first line of a song glorifying the Nazi Party in the Junior Common Room of Corpus Christi College after an OUCA meeting at the Oxford Union in 2010.^[27][28][29] This led to the resignation of some current and former members of the association. The university launched an investigation into the society as a result of the reports.^[29][30] The Dean of Corpus Christi subsequently banned all OUCA events at the college indefinitely.^[31]

Unpaid debt

On 25 February 2012 The Daily Telegraph reported that the association had had an unpaid debt of more than £1200 in relation to a charity event held "in support of the Army Benevolent Fund at the Cavalry and Guards Club on Pall Mall in June 2009", which had not been settled until the beginning of 2012. As a result of this and other administrative shortcomings, the university for a second time refused to re-register the association for a period of 12 months, during which time it was again known as OCA, regaining university affiliation at the start of Trinity term 2012.^[32][33]

Presidents

For a complete list of presidents dating back to 1924, see Former presidents of Oxford University Conservative Association.

References

Bibliography

• Anthony Berry and Douglas Wilson (eds.) with a foreword by the Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden, Conservative Oxford (Oxford University Conservative Association, Oxford, 1949) OCLC: 67886997
• Martin Ceadel, "The 'King and Country' Debate, 1933: Student Politics, Pacifism and the Dictators". The Historical Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2 (June 1979), pp. 397–422 Jstor link

External links

• Official Website
• Facebook Page