Prior to the new reforms put into place by William Hague, due to the close run elections of 1997, the elections were run in a far more elitist manner. They could only take place within three months of a new parliament or within two weeks of the start of a new commons session. The only people that were allowed to vote on the elections where the MP’s. To ensure that people didn’t stand against the leader when they did not stand the chance, the candidate must have 10% backing from the Conservative MP’s. Prior to 1991 candidates were allowed to challenge the leader every year without reason and even when they weren’t in power.
Between the 1995 election and the 2001 election, the elections for leaders have become a lot more democratic. The main reason for this is the fact that the final decision is left to the party as a whole to vote on the outcome. Also there were far fewer political manoeuvres (redwood supporting Clarke on final vote, Thatcher supporting Hague) to win the 2001 election than in the 1995 and 1997 election. However, the process is not as democratic as it could be due to the fact that MP’s can not just stand, they need to be backed. Also, only the final vote is taken by all members allowing the situation to arise where they are voting for the lesser of two evils.
The new process of electing a leader of the conservative party, introduced in 1998 by William Hague, is seen to be far more democratic than the previous system due to members being allowed to vote. However, the system is still flawed and not totally democratic, due mainly to the inherent beliefs passed on within the Conservative party, such as the ideology of hierarchy.
This principle is highlighted by the fact that it is not until the final two, that the all the members of the Conservative party are allowed to vote. Prior to this vote, it is the MP’s who create the “bottle neck” system.
The leader is protected in office due to the fact that a no-vote must be obtained. This is now done by 15% of MPs having to support a single MP. Therefore the party has become less democratic in this way.
In the final vote a final problem remained that made it very undemocratic. This was the fact that the Conservative members were only voting for the less of two evils. It would have been impossible for the members of the conservative party who are not MP’s to vote for anyone other than those candidates in the last two. Therefore the publics favourite, Michael Portillo, did not make it through to the public vote.
Despite the increased democracy due to the public vote, many new members did not get the right to vote, as they did not fulfil the conditions set down by Haig, mainly due to not being in the party for 6 months prior to the election.
Overall the party has become more democratic but it is still deeply inherently undemocratic with many people losing out on the vote and choices of whom to vote for.
