Thank you for being a member of the Conservative Party. There are resources available to support and enhance your Party membership. The starting point for any queries or support you may need is your local Conservative Association, which covers the area where you live. Even if you joined the Conservative Party online at the national website, you will be allocated to a local association.
We recommend you contact your local Association's office in the first instance. You can also arrange a meeting with an Association officer who will be delighted to see you. Each Conservative Association should have its own website with contact details about how to get in touch.
Three Month Rule
Before you can vote on any formal items of Conservative Party business, you must have been a member for at least three months. This includes votes at AGMs/SGMs as well as at Executive Councils and any branch meetings.
As the Area Management Executive, we often receive enquiries or complaints about the Three Month Rule. Membership was often not renewed and lapsed when a vote was called on some critical business, such as selecting a new Parliamentary Candidate. It is important to note that members are responsible for their own renewals and as such will need to check that a Direct Debit is in place. This is the easiest way to ensure payments can be collected at renewal time.
Another source of complaints related to the Three Month Rule is when a person thinks they are a member of the party when in fact they are not. This can sometimes happen when a person stands for the Conservative Party at a local election and completes an application form to be a candidate, not including membership. The prospective member must arrange this separately and is separate from standing to be a candidate in a local election.
A membership certificate will be issued when a member is added to the party's membership system. This system will also be checked before any official votes occur, and members who are not eligible to vote under the Three Month Rule will be marked. You can still attend any meetings, but you cannot vote at them and will be informed of this when you arrive at a meeting. This can sometimes be the first time a person discovers there is a problem with their membership, so it is important to check on your membership status with your local office before any critical meetings at which you wish to vote.
Membership Record Enquiries & Changes
Membership records for the Conservative Party are centralised, but each association has access to the system. Your local team can carry out some administrative functions on the system, but some functions need to be carried out by the team in London. This includes moving your membership from one association to another if you change address for instance. To contact the national team you can email [email protected]