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</div><div>=</div><div><div class="views-field views-field-title" style="font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2020/03/04/high-carbon-polluting-climate-denial-donation-general-election-2019-conservatives-1-5m" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Analysis: Tories Received £1.5m from Polluting Industries and Funders of Climate Denial Since General Election</a></div><div class="views-field views-field-body" style="font-size: 13px; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif;">The Conservative Party has received nearly £1.5 million of donations from polluting interests and funders of climate science denial in the past three months, DeSmog analysis shows.The...<a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2020/03/04/high-carbon-polluting-climate-denial-donation-general-election-2019-conservatives-1-5m" style="text-align: right; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">READ MORE</a></div></div><div></div><div>Conservative Party gets vast sums from an elite club of super wealthy donors that have made their money from polluting industries or are involved in backing climate science denial in the UK,.An analysis of the list provided by openDemocracy by DeSmog shows a significant handful of the Tory party’s elite donors have ties to climate science denial or have made their money through particularly polluting dealings in some of the world’s most unstable regions. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://desmogblog.cmail20.com/t/t-l-nqjjhy-jdldtjdit-jy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Read more...</a>
<a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/11/25/revealed-super-wealthy-tory-donors-ties-climate-science-denial-and-fossil-fuels">https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/11/25/revealed-super-wealthy-tory-donors-ties-climate-science-denial-and-fossil-fuels</a>Conservative Party gets vast sums from an elite club of super wealthy donors that have made their money from polluting industries or are involved in backing climate science denial in the UK, a new analysis shows.While the Labour party mainly gets by on small donations from lots of people, the Tories receive by far the largest donations from a select group. If donors give enough – at least £50,000 a year, to be precise – they get to be part of an elite club known as the ‘Leader's Group’, who get to wine and dine with Tory bigwigs, including the Prime Minister himself.Analysis by<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-the-elite-dining-club-behind-130m-donations-to-the-tories/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> investigative journalists at openDemocracy</a> breaks these donations down by sector. It shows the elite group is increasingly led by those working in the financial sector and hedge funds, with many pro-EU members fleeing the organisation.The Conservative Party hasn’t published a list of attendees to Leader's Group events since the first half of 2018. A staff member in the Conservative Treasurer's Department<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-the-elite-dining-club-behind-130m-donations-to-the-tories/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> told openDemocracy</a> that they thought publishing details of Leader's Group donors was “a directive of David Cameron's, many years back” that had since ceased. No such lists have been produced in the six weeks since openDemocracy’s request was made.In response to the investigation, Labour shadow cabinet office minister Jon Trickett wrote to Conservative chairman James Cleverly calling for “much greater transparency in how the Conservative Party handles its political donations and relationships with rich and powerful elites”.An analysis of the list provided by openDemocracy by DeSmog shows a significant handful of the Tory party’s elite donors have ties to climate science denial or have made their money through particularly polluting dealings in some of the world’s most unstable regions....[graf]<h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">Climate science denial backers</h3>A couple of names on the list revealed by Open Democracy have ties to the UK’s principal climate science denial campaign group, the <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/global-warming-policy-foundation" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)</a>.<a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/michael-hintze" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Hintze</a> is a long-standing Tory donor, who also bankrolled the Vote Leave campaign. He is one of the few known GWPF funders. He has also given significant sums to MPs with questionable climate credentials, including <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/boris-johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Boris Johnson</a>. Hintze is a trustee of the <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/institute-economic-affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA)</a>, a lobby group with strong ties to other pro-Brexit, pro-market deregulation, anti-environmental groups based out of offices in and around <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/55-tufton-street" style="text-decoration-line: none;">55 Tufton Street</a>. The IEA is funded by BP and tobacco firms, among others.Hintze was instrumental in setting up <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/atlantic-bridge" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Atlantic Bridge</a>, a thinktank founded by former International Trade Secretary <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/liam-fox" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Liam Fox</a>. In 2007, the group established a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/16/lessons-atlantic-bridge-questioning" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">special partnership</a> with US free-market lobby group the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-legislative-exchange-council" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)</a>, known for its efforts to quash climate policy. The group dissolved in 2011 after a Charity Commission investigation concluded Atlantic Bridge had been undertaking overly political work.Hintze is also a major donor to the Natural History Museum, which was criticised for naming one of its galleries after him after <a href="https://archive.fo/3IbPZ" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">receiving a £5 million donation</a> given his support for climate science denial.<hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" />Read the full openDemocracy investigation - 
<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-the-elite-dining-club-behind-130m-donations-to-the-tories/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Revealed: The elite dining club behind £130m+ donations to the Tories</a><hr style="box-sizing: content-box; height: 0px; border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-image: initial; margin: 1.5em 0px;" />Another Leader's Group member with ties to the UK’s climate science denial network is David Ord, co-owner of First Corporate Shipping (FCS). Ord co-owns FCS, which is the trading name for Bristol Port, with <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/terence-mordaunt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Terence Mordaunt</a> – a GWPF director.FCS has given very large donations to the Conservative Party and leading Tory politicians. Most recently <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2019/11/19/election-2019-boris-johnson-conservative-party-climate-science-denial-funding" style="text-decoration-line: none;">giving £25,000 each</a> to Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt in May 2019, in advance of the Conservative leadership election.<h3 style="line-height: 1.28205em; margin-top: 1.28205em; margin-bottom: 1.28205em;">Energy industry members</h3>There is a group of energy industry magnates that still form an important bloc with the Leader's Group, many of whom have operated in some of the world’s most unstable regions, and seemingly with different motivations for donating large sums to be part of it.Middle East interestsThe benefits were perhaps most obvious for Ayman Asfari, chief executive of Jersey-registered oil services provider Petrofrac. In September 2019, Petrofrac had a deal for an oil refinery in Oman backed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government agency tasked with supporting British enterprises abroad. It wasn’t the first time <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2017/07/19/over-past-year-uk-government-gave-1-billion-fossil-fuel-projects-overseas" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Petrofrac had secured a UKEF deal</a>. The £733 million deal was criticised by campaigners at the time, who pointed out that Petrofrac was also<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ayman-asfari-boris-johnson-tory-donor-oil-deal-syria-war-a9122136.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office</a> for suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering. In February 2019, Petrofrac’s Global Head of Sales, <a href="https://www.sfo.gov.uk/2019/02/07/former-senior-executive-convicted-in-petrofac-investigation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bribery</a> relating to contracts worth billions of pounds in Iran and Saudi Arabia.Petrofrac has recently been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/24/petrofac-accused-of-keeping-fake-accounts-to-disguise-bribes" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">accused of keeping separate accounts</a> to facilitate bribes and corruption in Kazakhstan between 2003 and 2010. The company denies the allegation.In summer 2016, Asfari had <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/625409/0025-17_attachment.PDF" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">met with Boris Johnson</a> and other ministers to discuss the political situation in Syria. Asfari and his wife have donated almost £900,000 to the Conservative Party since 2009, according to <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=4&rows=10&query=Asfari&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Electoral Commission data</a>, which doesn’t include Leader's Group data.A Petrofrac spokesperson told DeSmog that, “Petrofac does not make political contributions or engage in political activity.” “Donations by Mr Asfari to the Conservative Party were made several years ago in a personal capacity. Mr Asfari is no longer a donor,” they added.
Map by Richard Collett-White using data provided by openDemocracyAnother donor with oil interests in the Middle East that is also part of the Leader's Group is Abdul-Majid Jafar, chief executive of Crescent Petroleum. The company has natural gas operations in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-09-11/crescent-petroleum-sees-potential-for-iraqi-kurdish-gas-exports-to-turkey-video" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Kurdistan</a>, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and was recently involved in some <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/business/dispute-between-sharjah-s-crescent-petroleum-and-iran-moves-to-damages-phase-1.14407" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">controversy in Iran</a>. Given those interests, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Jafar is a leading voice calling for the <a href="https://www.oilandgasmiddleeast.com/34914-natural-gas-is-the-future-of-mena-economies-crescent-petroleum-ceo" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">expansion of gas operations</a>, diversifying away from just oil, in the region. Jafar has <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=1&rows=10&query=Abdul-Majid%20Jafar&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">given over £400,000</a> to the Conservative Party since 2010, and was one of the donors to bankroll a visit by a group of MPs to Libya in 2017, under the auspices of the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/libyan-general-haftar-meets-uk-conservative-delegation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC)</a>.Another long-standing Tory party donor who made his fortune through fossil fuel operations in controversial circumstances is Ian Roper Taylor, chairman of oil trader The Vitol Group. Roper Taylor has <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=5&rows=10&query=Ian%20Roper%20Taylor&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">given over £2 million</a> to the Conservative Party since 2011. Roper Taylor is also chairman of the Royal Opera House.The company has been <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2dc35efc-89ea-11e8-bf9e-8771d5404543" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">criticised</a> for its dealings in countries subject to sanctions, such as Iran and Iraq, as well as its involvement with questionable individuals such as Serbian warlord Željko Ražnatović, better known as Arkan. Vitol has also been accused of <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/new-scandal-threatens-worlds-largest-oil-trader-vitol-and-boss-ian-taylor-a7337546.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ripping off vulnerable states such as Mozambique</a>, and continues to operate in <a href="https://www.vitol.com/working-with-us/where-we-work/#world-locations" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">countries with poor reputations for corporate governance</a>, such as Nigeria and Azerbaijan.A Brazilian oil trader <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/americas/212737/ex-petrobras-trader-phil-collins-claims-he-was-bribed-by-vitol/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EV%20Daily%20Newsletter%202019-11-25&utm_term=Energy%20Voice%20-%20Newsletter" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">this month claimed to have received bribes</a> from the group to secure Vitol favourable terms with state oil company Petrobras. Vitol said in a statement that the company has a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption, and continues to cooperate with relevant authorities.Roper Taylor is no stranger to political campaigning. He <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13099230.Why_I_decided_to_give_Better_Together___500_000/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">gave £500,000 to the Better Together campaign</a>, which pushed for Scotland to remain part of the UK in advance of the 2014 referendum. And unlike the current leadership of the Conservative party, Roper Taylor is staunchly anti-Brexit and reportedly <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36960686" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">donated to the Remain campaign</a>. Nonetheless, he <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Donations/C0407345" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">donated £100,000</a> to the Conservative party as recently as April 2019, long after it had set its stall out for a hard Brexit.A spokesperson for Vitol told DeSmog, “Vitol does not make any political donations” and that it “is therefore not part of the 'Leader's Group'. “Any donations made by employees, including Mr Taylor, are made in a personal capacity,” they added.<h4 style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">North Sea and UK interests</h4>Current chief executive of UK-based fossil fuel company Enquest and former Petrofrac employee, Amjad Bseisu, is also part of the Leader's Group. He most recently hit headlines for taking a £1.3 million pay rise in April 2019.Bseisu has lobbied for support to <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/195379/north-sea-could-hold-further-discoveries-to-extend-lifespan-says-enquest-boss/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">maximise exploration</a> for fossil fuels in the North Sea, where Enquest operates. Cairn Energy, which also <a href="https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2015/12/22/which-fracking-firms-won-the-last-batch-of-uk-licenses/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">holds licenses for fracking blocks</a> in the UK also has a <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/195379/north-sea-could-hold-further-discoveries-to-extend-lifespan-says-enquest-boss/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">large stake in Enquest</a>. Bseisu’s own family also <a href="https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1571725707577777300/enquest-ceo-amjad-bseisu-buys-gbp400000-shares-.aspx" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">purchased 400,000 Enquest shares</a> in October 2019.Bseisu has<a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=5&rows=10&query=Amjad%20Bseisu&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> given over £400,000</a> to the Conservative Party since 2014. He has also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/mps-and-the-oil-industry-who-gave-what-to-whom" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">donated to Nadhim Zahawi</a>, the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon, who has a background in oil and gas exploration.Another energy magnate sitting within the Leader's Group with significant North Sea interests is Alasdair Locke, the former chief executive of oil and gas services company, the Abbott Group, which has operated in the North Sea and Africa. Locke is also non-executive chairman of India’s Hardy Oil and Gas, and is reportedly <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/199618/money-men-what-does-it-take-to-make-the-rich-list/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">worth £230 million</a>. He <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/16053902.north-sea-oil-services-tycoon-in-bumper-petrol-stations-acquisition/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">invested heavily in petrol stations</a> in 2018 through The Motor Group and has interests in <a href="http://www.wellsafesolutions.com/our-people/alasdair-locke/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">North Sea oil and gas decommissioning</a> through Well Safe Solutions Plc. He has <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=5&rows=10&query=Amjad%20Bseisu&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">donated over £500,000</a> to the Conservative Party since 2013.Locke is joined by Michael Heller, chairman of coal mining company Bisichi, which holds the controlling stake in the Black Wattle Colliery mine in South Africa. Bisichi is listed on London’s junior stock exchange, the Alternative Investment Market, which has been <a href="https://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/05/09/taking-aim-london-s-wild-west-stock-market" style="text-decoration-line: none;">described as a “wild west”</a> for investors looking to profit from polluting activities abroad.Heller was recently criticised for signing-off <a href="https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-5824689/All-900-000-haul-chairman-Bisichis-son.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a £900,000 pay-packet for his son</a>, Andrew Heller, the chief executive of Bisichi, despite the company only being worth around £11 million. Bisichi’s business model is underwritten by <a href="https://bisichi.co.uk/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a large UK property portfolio</a>, worth £14 million according to the company’s website.Richard Barr, chairman of Centrax Industries, a company that makes gas power turbines based in the England’s Southwest, is also a member of the Leader's Group. Centrax has <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=1&rows=10&query=Centrax&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">given almost £150,000</a> to the Conservative Party and its MPs since 2010.<h4 style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Ukrainian connection</h4>Three members of Offshore Group Newcastle, a company that fabricates steel for oil platforms, have also been members of the Leader's Group. The company has <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=5&rows=10&query=Offshore%20Group%20Newcastle&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">donated almost £500,000</a> to the Conservative Party since 2012. OGN is now in liquidation, but one of its former directors, Alexander Temerko, remains very politically active. He has given the Conservative Party and Tory MPs <a href="http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=7&rows=10&query=Alexander%20Temerko&sort=AcceptedDate&order=desc&tab=1&et=pp&et=ppm&et=tp&et=perpar&et=rd&isIrishSourceYes=true&isIrishSourceNo=true&prePoll=false&postPoll=true&register=gb&register=ni&register=none&optCols=CampaigningName&optCols=AccountingUnitsAsCentralParty&optCols=IsSponsorship&optCols=RegulatedDoneeType&optCols=CompanyRegistrationNumber&optCols=Postcode&optCols=NatureOfDonation&optCols=PurposeOfVisit&optCols=DonationAction&optCols=ReportedDate&optCols=IsReportedPrePoll&optCols=ReportingPeriodName&optCols=IsBequest&optCols=IsAggregation" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">over £600,000</a> as an individual since 2012.Ukrainian-born Temerko became a British citizen in 2011, describes himself as <a href="https://archive.fo/e6unj" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a “vocal champion of UK energy security and independence.”</a> He is the<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20181212005849/http:/www.alexandertemerko.co.uk/en/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;"> former deputy chairman</a> of Russia’s Yukos Oil Company. He is currently director of AQUIND Limited, which is building an electricity interconnector between the UK and mainland Europe.<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-russian-donors-have-stepped-tory-funding/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">openDemocracy reports</a> that Temerko is said to be particularly close to Boris Johnson, with the two men sometimes calling each other “Sasha”, the Russian diminutive for Alexander, which is Johnson’s real first name. Temerko was reportedly involved in an unsuccessful attempt led by members of a group of hardline Conservative MPs, the European Research Group, to remove Theresa May as leader in December 2018.OGN directors David Edwards and Dennis Clarke were also members of the Leader's Group, but Edwards <a href="https://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/tributes-paid-to-industry-stalwart-david-edwards-1-5002426" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">deceased in May 2017</a> and Clarke <a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/business-news/ogn-boss-dennis-clark-retires-12436657" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">retired</a> the same year.The Conservative Party and all the donors named here have been contacted for comment.</div><div></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/uk-national-health-service-staff-to-lead-protest-against-trump-visit-amid-rising-privatization-concerns/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">UK National Health Service staff to lead protest against Trump visit amid rising privatization concerns</a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/jessica-corbett/" title="Posts by Jessica Corbett" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Jessica Corbett</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dreams</a></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The demonstration plans come as new research reveals that nearly £15 billion in health service contracts have been given to private firms since 2015, casting doubt on Tories' claims that NHS isn't "up for sale."</div><div>
</div><div></div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)</a></div><div>
</div><div> Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[13]</a> known informally as the Tories, and historically also known as the Unionist Party, is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre-right" class="mw-redirect" title="Centre-right" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">centre-right</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party" title="Political party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">political party</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United Kingdom</a>. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="House of Commons of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">House of Commons</a>, with 288 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_Parliament(UK)" class="mw-redirect" title="Member of Parliament (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Members of Parliament</a>, and also has 234 members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords" title="House of Lords" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">House of Lords</a>, 4 members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament" title="European Parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">European Parliament</a>, 31 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_Scottish_Parliament" class="mw-redirect" title="Members of the Scottish Parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Members</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament" title="Scottish Parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scottish Parliament</a>, 11 members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Assembly" class="mw-redirect" title="Welsh Assembly" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Welsh Assembly</a>, 8 members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Assembly" title="London Assembly" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">London Assembly</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_make-up_of_local_councils_in_the_United_Kingdom" title="Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7,445 local councillors</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-localcouncil-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[12]</a>The Conservative Party was founded in 1834 from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tories(British_political_party)" title="Tories (British political party)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tory Party</a>—the Conservatives' colloquial name is "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tory" title="Tory" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Tories</a>"—and was one of two dominant political parties in the nineteenth century, along with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party(UK)" title="Liberal Party (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liberal Party</a>. Under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli" title="Benjamin Disraeli" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Benjamin Disraeli</a> it played a preeminent role in politics at the height of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire" title="British Empire" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">British Empire</a>. In 1912, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Unionist_Party" title="Liberal Unionist Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liberal Unionist Party</a> merged with the party to form the Conservative and Unionist Party. In the 1920s, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party(UK)" title="Labour Party (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Labour Party</a> surpassed the Liberals as the Conservatives' main rivals. Conservative Prime Ministers — notably <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Winston Churchill</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher" title="Margaret Thatcher" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Margaret Thatcher</a> — led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century.Positioned on the centre-right of British politics, the Conservative Party is ideologically <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism" title="Conservatism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">conservative</a>.Different factions have dominated the party at different times, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-nation_conservatism" title="One-nation conservatism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">One Nation Conservatives</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatcherism" title="Thatcherism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Thatcherites</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_conservatism" title="Liberal conservatism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">liberal conservatives</a>, while its views and policies have changed throughout its history. The party has generally adopted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_liberalism" title="Economic liberalism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">liberal economic policies</a>—favouring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market" title="Free market" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">free market</a> economics, limiting state regulation, and pursuing privatisation—although in the past has also supported <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectionism" title="Protectionism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">protectionism</a>. The party is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_unionism" class="mw-redirect" title="British unionism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">British unionist</a>, opposing both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Ireland" title="United Ireland" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Irish reunification</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_independence" title="Welsh independence" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Welsh</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence" title="Scottish independence" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Scottish independence</a>, and historically supported the maintenance of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire" title="British Empire" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">British Empire</a>. The party includes those with differing views on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union" title="European Union" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">European Union</a>, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism" title="Euroscepticism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Eurosceptic</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-Europeanism" title="Pro-Europeanism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pro-European</a> wings. Since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum" title="2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">2016 EU membership referendum</a>, the party has endorsed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit" title="Brexit" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Brexit</a>. On social policy, it has historically taken a more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_conservatism" title="Social conservatism" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">socially conservative</a> approach, though this has receded over recent decades. In foreign policy, it favours a strong military capability, being supportive of British participation in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO" title="NATO" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">NATO</a>.The Conservatives are a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Democrat_Union" title="International Democrat Union" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">International Democrat Union</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_of_Conservatives_and_Reformists_in_Europe" title="Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe</a>, and sit with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Conservatives_and_Reformists" title="European Conservatives and Reformists" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">European Conservatives and Reformists</a> (ECR) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_groups_of_the_European_Parliament" title="Political groups of the European Parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">parliamentary group</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Conservatives" title="Scottish Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scottish</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Conservatives" title="Welsh Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Welsh</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_Conservatives" title="Northern Ireland Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Northern Irish</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_Conservatives" title="Gibraltar Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gibraltarian</a> branches of the party are semi-autonomous. Its support base consists primarily of middle-class voters, especially in rural areas of England, and its domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to it being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[14]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[15]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[16]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="direction: ltr; position: absolute; opacity: 0; z-index: -1; display: none;" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#History" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1History</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Origins" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.1Origins</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Conservatives_and_Unionists(1867%E2%80%931914)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.2Conservatives and Unionists (1867–1914)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#First_World_War" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.3First World War</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#1920%E2%80%931945" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.41920–1945</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#1945%E2%80%931963" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.51945–1963</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Popular_dissatisfaction" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.5.1Popular dissatisfaction</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Modernising_the_party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.5.2Modernising the party</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Edward_Heath(1965%E2%80%931975)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.6Edward Heath (1965–1975)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Margaret_Thatcher(1975%E2%80%931990)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.7Margaret Thatcher (1975–1990)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#John_Major(1990%E2%80%931997)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.8John Major (1990–1997)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Back_in_opposition(1997%E2%80%932005)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.9Back in opposition (1997–2005)</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#William_Hague" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.9.1William Hague</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Iain_Duncan_Smith_and_Michael_Howard" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.9.2Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#David_Cameron(2005%E2%80%932016)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.10David Cameron (2005–2016)</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Theresa_May(2016%E2%80%932019)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.11Theresa May (2016–2019)</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Islamophobia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.11.1Islamophobia</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Boris_Johnson(2019%E2%80%93present)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1.12Boris Johnson (2019–present)</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Policies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2Policies</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Economic_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.1Economic policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Social_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.2Social policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Foreign_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.3Foreign policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Defence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4Defence</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-24" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Afghanistan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.1Afghanistan</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-25" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Strategic_Defence_and_Security_Review" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.2Strategic Defence and Security Review</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-26" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Europe_and_NATO" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.3Europe and NATO</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-27" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Nuclear_weapons" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.4.4Nuclear weapons</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-28" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Health_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.5Health policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-29" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Drug_policies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.6Drug policies</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-30" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Education_and_research" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.7Education and research</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-31" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Family_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.8Family policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-32" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Jobs_and_welfare_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.9Jobs and welfare policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-33" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Energy_and_climate_change_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.10Energy and climate change policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-34" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Justice_and_crime_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.11Justice and crime policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-35" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#European_Union_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.12European Union policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-36" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Union_policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.13Union policy</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-37" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#British_constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2.14British constitution</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-38" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Organisation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Organisation</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-39" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Party_structure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.1Party structure</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-40" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Membership" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.2Membership</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-41" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Prospective_parliamentary_candidates" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.3Prospective parliamentary candidates</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-42" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Young_Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.4Young Conservatives</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-43" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Conferences" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.5Conferences</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-44" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Funding" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.6Funding</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-45" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#International_organisations" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.7International organisations</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-46" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Party_factions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4Party factions</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-47" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Traditionalist_Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Traditionalist Conservatives</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-48" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#One-nation_Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.2One-nation Conservatives</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-49" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Free-market_Conservatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.3Free-market Conservatives</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-50" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Relationships_between_the_factions" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.4Relationships between the factions</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-51" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Electoral_performance_and_campaigns" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5Electoral performance and campaigns</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-52" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#UK-wide_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1UK-wide elections</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-53" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#UK_general_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1.1UK general elections</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-54" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#European_Parliament_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1.2European Parliament elections</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-55" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Devolved_assembly_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2Devolved assembly elections</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-56" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Scottish_Parliament_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2.1Scottish Parliament elections</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-57" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Welsh_Assembly_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2.2Welsh Assembly elections</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-58" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Northern_Ireland_devolved_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2.3Northern Ireland devolved elections</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-59" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#London_Assembly_and_mayoral_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2.4London Assembly and mayoral elections</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-60" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Combined_authority_elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.2.5Combined authority elections</a></li></ul></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-61" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Associated_groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Associated groups</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-62" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Ideological_groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.1Ideological groups</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-63" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Interest_groups" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.2Interest groups</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-64" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Think_tanks" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.3Think tanks</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-65" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Alliances" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.4Alliances</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-66" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Party_structures" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6.5Party structures</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-67" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-68" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Notes" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8Notes</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-69" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Bibliography" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9Bibliography</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-70" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Further_reading" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">10Further reading</a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-71" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#Historiography" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">10.1Historiography</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-72" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">11External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">History</h2></div><div>...</div><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">David Cameron (2005–2016)</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Further information: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_David_Cameron" title="Political positions of David Cameron" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Political positions of David Cameron</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_David_Cameron" title="Premiership of David Cameron" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Premiership of David Cameron</a></div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Cameron_official.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Cameron_official.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron" title="David Cameron" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">David Cameron</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</a> (2010–2016)</div></div></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron" title="David Cameron" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">David Cameron</a> won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Conservative_Party_leadership_election" title="2005 Conservative Party leadership election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2005 leadership election</a>. Cameron defeated his closest rival, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis(British_politician)" title="David Davis (British politician)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">David Davis</a>, by a margin of more than two to one, taking 134,446 votes to 64,398. He then announced his intention to reform and realign the Conservatives, saying they needed to change the way they looked, felt, thought and behaved, advocating a more centre-right stance as opposed to their recent staunchly right-wing platform.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-Cameron-speech-73" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[73]</a> Although Cameron's views are probably to the left of the party membership and he sought to make the Conservative brand more attractive to young, socially liberal voters,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-74" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[74]</a> he has also expressed his admiration for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher" title="Margaret Thatcher" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Margaret Thatcher</a>, describing himself as a "big fan of Thatcher's", though he questions whether that makes him a "Thatcherite". For most of 2006 and the first half of 2007, polls showed leads over Labour for the Conservatives.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-75" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[75]</a>Polls became more volatile in summer 2007 with the accession of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Brown" title="Gordon Brown" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Gordon Brown</a> as Prime Minister, although polls gave the Conservatives a lead after October of that year and, by May 2008, with the UK's economy sliding into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession" title="Great Recession" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">its first recession since 1992</a>, and a week after local council elections, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouGov" title="YouGov" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">YouGov</a> poll commissioned by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun(United_Kingdom)" title="The Sun (United Kingdom)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Sun newspaper</a> was published giving the Conservative Party a 26-point lead over Labour, its largest lead since 1968.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-76" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[76]</a> The Conservatives gained control of the London <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_London" title="Mayor of London" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">mayoralty</a> for the first time in May 2008 after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a> defeated the Labour incumbent, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone" title="Ken Livingstone" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ken Livingstone</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[77]</a>The Conservative lead in the opinion polls had been almost unbroken for nearly three years when Britain finally went to the polls on 6 May 2010, though since the turn of 2010 most polls had shown the Conservative lead as less than 10 points wide. The election resulted in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_parliament" title="Hung parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">hung parliament</a> with the Conservatives having the most seats (306) but being twenty seats short of an overall majority. Following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party five days afterwards, David Cameron was named as the country's new Prime Minister and the Conservatives <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron%E2%80%93Clegg_coalition" title="Cameron–Clegg coalition" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">entered government in a coalition</a> with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democrats(UK)" title="Liberal Democrats (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liberal Democrats</a>—the first post-war <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_government" title="Coalition government" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">coalition government</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-78" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[78]</a>In May 2014, the Conservatives were defeated in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_European_Parliament_election_in_the_United_Kingdom" title="2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">European parliamentary elections</a> coming in third place behind the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Independence_Party" title="UK Independence Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">UK Independence Party</a> and Labour. UKIP ended with 24 MEPs, Labour 20, and the Conservatives 19. The result was described by UKIP leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Farage" title="Nigel Farage" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nigel Farage</a> as "disastrous" for Cameron, and the leaders of the other main parties.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-UKIP-79" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[79]</a>In September 2014, the Unionist side, championed by Labour as well as by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, won in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Scottish_independence_referendum" title="2014 Scottish independence referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scottish Independence referendum</a> by 55% No to 45% Yes on the question "Should Scotland be an independent country". This can be seen as a victory for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Unionism" class="mw-redirect" title="British Unionism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">British Unionism</a>, a core part of traditional Conservative ideology, and also for David Cameron as the incumbent Prime Minister.At the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2015 United Kingdom general election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2015 general election</a>, the Conservatives won a majority of seats in the House of Commons and formed a majority government under David Cameron. The party increased its national vote share, becoming the first incumbent party to do so since 1900. The result was unexpected and exceeded even the party leadership's expectations, as most polls had predicted a hung parliament.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-80" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[80]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-81" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[81]</a> This was also the first general election since 1992 in which the Conservatives had won an overall majority, although the vote share of 36.9% was lower than the previous four Conservative majority governments under Thatcher and Major.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-82" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[82]</a> In March 2017, the party was fined £70,000, the largest fine of this sort in British political history, after an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Commission" class="mw-redirect" title="Electoral Commission" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Electoral Commission</a> investigation found "significant failures" by the party to report its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2015 United Kingdom general election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2015 general election</a> campaign spending.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-83" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[83]</a>On the morning of Friday 24 June 2016, Cameron announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister, after he failed to convince the British public to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU_Referendum_UK" class="mw-redirect" title="EU Referendum UK" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">stay in the European Union</a>, and subsequently the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Conservative_Party_leadership_election" title="2016 Conservative Party leadership election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Conservative Party leadership election</a> was announced with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May" title="Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa May</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gove" title="Michael Gove" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michael Gove</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Crabb" title="Stephen Crabb" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Stephen Crabb</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Fox" title="Liam Fox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liam Fox</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Leadsom" title="Andrea Leadsom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Andrea Leadsom</a> confirmed as the official contenders to be his successor with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a> ruling himself out of the process.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-84" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[84]</a> After Crabb withdrew, Fox and then Gove were eliminated in successive ballots by Conservative MPs, leaving Leadsom and May as the final candidates to be put before the wider Conservative Party membership.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-85" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[85]</a> Leadsom subsequently withdrew from the contest on 11 July.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-86" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[86]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Theresa May (2016–2019)[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party(UK)&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Theresa May (2016–2019)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Further information: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Theresa_May" title="Premiership of Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Premiership of Theresa May</a></div><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Theresa_May_official_portrait.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Theresa_May_official_portrait.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May" title="Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa May</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</a> (2016–2019)</div></div></div>On 11 July 2016, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May" title="Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa May</a> became the leader of the Conservative Party with immediate effect following the withdrawal from the leadership election of her sole remaining opponent, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Leadsom" title="Andrea Leadsom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Andrea Leadsom</a>. Appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016, May promised social reform and a more centrist political outlook for the Conservative Party and its government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-87" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[87]</a> In a speech after her appointment, May emphasised the term Unionist in the name of the party, reminding all of "the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-88" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[88]</a> May considers herself a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-nation_conservatism" title="One-nation conservatism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">one nation conservative</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-89" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[89]</a>May's early cabinet appointments were interpreted both as "centrist and conciliatory", an effort to reunite the party in the wake of the UK's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum" title="2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">vote to leave the European Union</a>, and as "a shift to the right" according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian" title="The Guardian" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Guardian</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-90" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[90]</a>May appointed former Mayor of London <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Foreign_and_Commonwealth_Affairs" title="Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Foreign Secretary</a>, former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Energy_and_Climate_Change" title="Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Rudd" title="Amber Rudd" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Amber Rudd</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Secretary" title="Home Secretary" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Home Secretary</a>, and former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Home_Secretary" title="Shadow Home Secretary" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Shadow Home Secretary</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Davis(British_politician)" title="David Davis (British politician)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">David Davis</a> to the newly created office of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Exiting_the_European_Union" title="Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brexit Secretary</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-91" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[91]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liam_Fox" title="Liam Fox" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liam Fox</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Hammond" title="Philip Hammond" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Philip Hammond</a>, who had both previously served as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Defence" title="Secretary of State for Defence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Secretary of State for Defence</a> (Fox from 2010 to 2011 and Hammond from 2011 to 2014), were appointed to the newly created office of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_International_Trade" title="Secretary of State for International Trade" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">International Trade Secretary</a> and as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer" title="Chancellor of the Exchequer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chancellor of the Exchequer</a> respectively.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-92" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[92]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-93" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[93]</a> Replacing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gove" title="Michael Gove" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Michael Gove</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Truss" class="mw-redirect" title="Elizabeth Truss" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Elizabeth Truss</a> was made Justice Secretary, the "first female Lord Chancellor in the thousand-year history of the role".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-94" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[94]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Leadsom" title="Andrea Leadsom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Andrea Leadsom</a>, who was energy minister and May's primary competitor for party leader, was made the new environment secretary.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-95" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[95]</a> However, former Northern Ireland Secretary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_Villiers" title="Theresa Villiers" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa Villiers</a> resigned from Cabinet after May offered her a different, non-Cabinet post that was, she said, "not one which I felt I could take on".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-96" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[96]</a> Nearly half of the first May <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Cabinet of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">ministry</a> were women.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-97" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[97]</a>In her first speech, May made a promise to combat the "burning injustice" in British society and create a union "between all of our citizens" and promising to be an advocate for the "ordinary working-class family" and not just for "privileged few" in the UK.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-98" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[98]</a>In April 2017, the Cabinet agreed to hold a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2017 United Kingdom general election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">general election</a> on 8 June.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-99" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[99]</a> During the resulting campaign, Theresa May asked the electorate to "strengthen my hand" in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit" title="Brexit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brexit</a> negotiations, promised "strong and stable leadership in the national interest" and warned of a "coalition of chaos" under Jeremy Corbyn.Contrary to opinion polling at the time, the election resulted in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hung_parliament" title="Hung parliament" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">hung parliament</a>, with the Conservative Party having 317 seats in the House of Commons, but without an overall majority. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Unionist_Party" title="Democratic Unionist Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Democratic Unionist Party</a> suggested it would be able to provide a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative%E2%80%93DUP_agreement" title="Conservative–DUP agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">confidence and supply</a> arrangement depending on negotiations.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-100" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[100]</a> On 9 June 2017, May announced her intention to form a new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_May_ministry" title="Second May ministry" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">minority government</a> with support from the DUP,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-101" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[101]</a> which was finalised on 26 June.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-102" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[102]</a>On 8 January 2018, May announced her first major cabinet reshuffle, keeping in place most ministers, but promoting others.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-103" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[103]</a>In February 2019, three Conservative MPs – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Allen" title="Heidi Allen" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Heidi Allen</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Wollaston" title="Sarah Wollaston" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sarah Wollaston</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Soubry" title="Anna Soubry" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Anna Soubry</a> – defected from the party to join <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent_Group" class="mw-redirect" title="The Independent Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">The Independent Group</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-Europeanism" title="Pro-Europeanism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">pro-EU</a> political association of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_Parliament(United_Kingdom)" title="Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">MPs</a> founded by seven former members of the Labour party. The MPs said the reasons for their departure were their opposition to the party's handling of Brexit, what they saw as the takeover of the Conservative party by 'right wing, ... hard-line anti-EU' MPs, and lack of concern from the Conservative party for the 'most vulnerable in society'.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-104" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[104]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-105" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[105]</a>May announced her resignation from the leadership of the Conservative party on 24 May 2019, intending to leave the role on 7 June. However, she has remained Prime Minister until a successor was elected by the party.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-106" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[106]</a>Theresa May resigned as Prime Minister on the 24 July 2019 after her successor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a>, was elected on 23 July 2019. She will remain as the Member of Parliament for the Parliamentary Constituency of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maidenhead" title="Maidenhead" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Maidenhead</a>.<h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Islamophobia[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party(UK)&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Islamophobia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h4><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia_in_the_UK_Conservative_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party</a></div>In May 2018, the Conservative Party was accused of failing to take action on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia" title="Islamophobia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Islamophobia</a>. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Council_of_Britain" title="Muslim Council of Britain" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Muslim Council of Britain</a> has repeatedly demanded an investigation, saying there are now "more than weekly incidents" of Islamophobia involving Conservative candidates and representatives.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc1-107" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[107]</a> In an open letter, it tells chairman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lewis" title="Brandon Lewis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brandon Lewis</a> he must "ensure racists and bigots have no place" in the party.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc1-107" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[107]</a> Former party co-chair <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayeeda_Warsi,Baroness_Warsi" title="Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sayeeda Baroness Warsi</a> also called on May to publicly acknowledge that Islamophobia is a problem in the Conservative Party, arguing that she has been trying to get the party to address the issue for over two years.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc1-107" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[107]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-theguardian1-108" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[108]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-businessinsider-109" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[109]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-independent2-110" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[110]</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Muslim_Forum" title="Conservative Muslim Forum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Conservative Muslim Forum</a> also accused the Conservative party of a failure to take action on Islamophobia and joined calls for an independent inquiry.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc2-111" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[111]</a> In addition, 350 mosques and 11 umbrella organisations across the UK have urged the Conservatives to launch internal inquiry into Islamophobia claims.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-independent1-112" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[112]</a> In July 2018, the MCB repeated its call for an independent inquiry and accused the Conservatives of turning blind eye to Islamophobia claims.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-theguardian2-113" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[113]</a> A week later Warsi supported this call, and warned the Conservatives were pursuing a politically damaging policy of denial about the problem in its own ranks. She accused Conservative chair <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lewis" title="Brandon Lewis" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brandon Lewis</a> of a "woefully inept" response to recent complaints and added that MP <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zac_Goldsmith" title="Zac Goldsmith" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Zac Goldsmith</a> should receive "mandatory diversity training" for alleged Islamophobia in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_London_mayoral_election" title="2016 London mayoral election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">failed 2016 London mayoral campaign</a> against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadiq_Khan" title="Sadiq Khan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Sadiq Khan</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-theguardian3-114" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[114]</a> In August 2018, following comments made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a> regarding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burqa" title="Burqa" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">burqa</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niqab" class="mw-redirect" title="Niqab" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">niqab</a>, the MCB called the comments "particularly regrettable in this current climate" and reiterated its calls for an inquiry, accusing Johnson of "pandering to the far-right".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-115" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[115]</a> In October 2018, recently selected London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey was accused of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia" title="Islamophobia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Islamophobia</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduphobia" class="mw-redirect" title="Hinduphobia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hinduphobia</a> after it was reported that had written a pamphlet in 2005, entitled No Man’s Land, for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Policy_Studies" title="Centre for Policy Studies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Centre for Policy Studies</a>. In it, Bailey argued that accommodating <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam" title="Islam" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Muslims</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Hindus</a> is one factor which "[robs] Britain of its community" and that the collapse of community is turning country into a "crime riddled cess pool". He claimed that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asians" class="mw-redirect" title="South Asians" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">South Asians</a> "bring their culture, their country and any problems they might have, with them" and that this was not a problem within the black community "because we’ve shared a religion and in many cases a language".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-116" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[116]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Boris Johnson (2019–present)[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party(UK)&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: Boris Johnson (2019–present)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div class="thumb tright" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 172px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: 0px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Johnson_FCA.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Johnson_FCA.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="width" height="height" viewbox="%220" e="E" cg="Cg" id="%22smallbox%22" fill="%22%23fff%22" stroke="%22%23000%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22M-1.499" h10.99v7.919h1.509z="h10.99v7.919H1.509z" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" c="C" g="g" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"></a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Prime Minister of the United Kingdom</a> (2019–present)</div></div></div>On 23 July 2019, former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Foreign_and_Commonwealth_Affairs" title="Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Foreign Secretary</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_London" title="Mayor of London" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Mayor of London</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson" title="Boris Johnson" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Boris Johnson</a> defeated Foreign Secretary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Hunt" title="Jeremy Hunt" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Jeremy Hunt</a>, with 66.4% of the vote in the final ballot of Conservative Party members, to become Leader of the Conservative Party.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc230719-117" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[117]</a>Johnson became Prime Minister on the 24 July 2019 after his predecessor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May" title="Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa May</a> resigned the same day.Johnson lost his working majority in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="House of Commons of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">House of Commons</a> on the 3 September 2019 when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Lee(politician)" title="Phillip Lee (politician)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Phillip Lee</a> crossed the floor during Johnson's speech to join the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democrats(UK)" title="Liberal Democrats (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liberal Democrats</a>, later explaining that he believed the Conservative party had been "infected with the twin diseases of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism" title="Populism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">populism</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_nationalism" title="English nationalism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">English nationalism</a>".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-bbc030919-118" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[118]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-119" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[119]</a> The same day, the former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_the_Exchequer" title="Chancellor of the Exchequer" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Chancellor of the Exchequer</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Hammond" title="Philip Hammond" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Philip Hammond</a> announced that he would "defend his party" against "incomers and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entryism" title="Entryism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">entryists</a>", perceived by some as referring to Johnson's adviser <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Cummings" title="Dominic Cummings" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dominic Cummings</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-120" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[120]</a> Later that same day, a total of twenty-one Conservative MPs, including former Chancellors of the Exchequer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Hammond" title="Philip Hammond" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Philip Hammond</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Clarke" class="mw-redirect" title="Ken Clarke" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Ken Clarke</a>, ex-ministers, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Soames" title="Nicholas Soames" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Nicholas Soames</a>, the grandson of former Conservative Party Leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Winston Churchill</a>, had the Conservative whip withdrawn after voting with the Opposition to grant the House of Commons control over its order paper, leading to Johnson becoming the first Prime Minister to lose his first Commons vote<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-121" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[121]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Policies</h2><div>...</div><div><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Energy and climate change policy</h3><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron" title="David Cameron" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">David Cameron</a> brought several '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_conservatism" title="Green conservatism" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">green</a>' issues to the forefront of his 2010 campaign. These included proposals designed to impose a tax on workplace car parking spaces, a halt to airport growth, a tax on cars with exceptionally poor petrol mileage, and restrictions on car advertising. Many of these policies were implemented in the Coalition—including the '<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Deal" class="mw-redirect" title="Green Deal" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Green Deal</a>'.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-172" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[172]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Justice and crime policy[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party(UK)&action=edit&section=34" title="Edit section: Justice and crime policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>In 2010, the Conservatives campaigned with the conviction to cut the perceived bureaucracy of the modern police force and pledged greater legal protection to people convicted of defending themselves against intruders. They also supported the creation of a UK Bill of Rights to replace the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Act_1998" title="Human Rights Act 1998" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Human Rights Act 1998</a>, but this was vetoed by their coalition partners the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democrats(UK)" title="Liberal Democrats (UK)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Liberal Democrats</a>. Some Conservatives, particularly within the socially conservative <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Group" title="Cornerstone Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Cornerstone Group</a>, support the re-introduction of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom" title="Capital punishment in the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">death penalty</a>.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">European Union policy</h3>No subject has proved more divisive in the Conservative Party in recent history than the role of the United Kingdom within the European Union. Though the principal architect of the UK's entry into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Communities" title="European Communities" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">European Communities</a> (which became the European Union) was Conservative Prime Minister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Heath" title="Edward Heath" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Edward Heath</a>, and both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill" title="Winston Churchill" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Winston Churchill</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Macmillan" title="Harold Macmillan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Harold Macmillan</a> favoured some form of European union, the bulk of contemporary Conservative opinion is opposed to closer economic and particularly political union with the EU. This is a noticeable shift in British politics, as in the 1960s and 1970s the Conservatives were more pro-Europe than the Labour Party. Divisions on Europe came to the fore under the premiership of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher" title="Margaret Thatcher" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Margaret Thatcher</a> (1979–1990) and were cited by several ministers resigning, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Howe" title="Geoffrey Howe" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Geoffrey Howe</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Deputy Prime Minister</a>, whose resignation triggered <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Conservative_Party_leadership_election" title="1990 Conservative Party leadership election" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">the challenge that ended Thatcher's leadership</a>. Under Thatcher's successor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Major" title="John Major" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">John Major</a> (1990–1997), the slow process of integration within the EU forced party tensions to the surface. A core of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism" title="Euroscepticism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Eurosceptic</a> MPs under Major used the small Conservative majority in Parliament to oppose Government policy on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Treaty" title="Maastricht Treaty" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Maastricht Treaty</a>. By doing so they undermined Major's ability to govern.The Conservative Party has members with varying opinions of the EU, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-European" class="mw-redirect" title="Pro-European" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">pro-European</a> Conservatives joining the affiliate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Europe_Group" class="mw-redirect" title="Conservative Europe Group" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Conservative Group for Europe</a>, while some Eurosceptics left the party to join the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Independence_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="United Kingdom Independence Party" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United Kingdom Independence Party</a>. Under current EU practices, the degree to which a Conservative Government could implement policy change regarding the EU would depend directly on the willingness of other EU member states to agree to such policies.In 2009 the Conservative Party actively campaigned against the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Lisbon" title="Treaty of Lisbon" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Lisbon Treaty</a>, which it believes would give away too much sovereignty to Brussels. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Cabinet" title="Shadow Cabinet" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Shadow</a> Foreign Secretary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hague" title="William Hague" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">William Hague</a> stated that, should the treaty be in force by the time of an incoming Conservative government, he would "not let matters rest there".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-173" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[173]</a> However, on 14 June 2009 the shadow Business Secretary, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Clarke" title="Kenneth Clarke" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Kenneth Clarke</a>, said in an interview to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC" title="BBC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">BBC</a> that the Conservative Party would not reopen negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty if the Irish backed it in a new referendum,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Party(UK)#cite_note-174" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[174]</a> which they did on 2 October 2009.The Conservative Party pledged an in-out referendum on membership of the European Union after a renegotiation. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum" title="2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">referendum took place on 23 June 2016</a>, and resulted in a vote to leave the European Union – a policy commonly referred to as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brexit" title="Brexit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Brexit</a>. Prime Minister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May" title="Theresa May" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Theresa May</a> signed the notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which officially began Britain's withdrawal from the EU, on 28 March 2017, and at 12:20 on 29 March 2017, the UK ambassador Tim Barrow delivered the notice to EU president Donald Tusk, officially triggering what was intended to be a two-year process of leaving the European Union.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Union policy[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservative_Party(UK)&action=edit&section=36" title="Edit section: Union policy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>The Conservatives staunchly support the maintenance of the United Kingdom, and oppose the independence of any of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_of_the_United_Kingdom" title="Countries of the United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">countries of the United Kingdom</a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_independence" title="English independence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">England</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence" title="Scottish independence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scotland</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_independence" title="Welsh independence" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Wales</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_republicanism" title="Irish republicanism" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Northern Ireland</a> from it. They have had a mixed history on support for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scottish_devolution" title="History of Scottish devolution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Scottish</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_devolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Welsh devolution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Welsh</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution_for_Northern_Ireland" class="mw-redirect" title="Devolution for Northern Ireland" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Northern Irish devolution</a>....</div><div> =desmog<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://desmogblog.cmail20.com/t/t-l-byksit-jdldtjdit-n/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">05 July 2019</a><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="right" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><tbody><tr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;"><td class="yiv7394590987w30" width="15" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;" /><td style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;" /></tr><tr style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;"><td class="yiv7394590987w30" width="15" height="5" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;" /><td style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-collapse: collapse;" /></tr></tbody></table><div align="left" class="yiv7394590987article-content" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 18px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px;">Dr Jerome Booth, an economist, investor, and Tory donor, has been appointed as a Director of the UK's principal climate science denial campaign group, the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://desmogblog.cmail20.com/t/t-l-byksit-jdldtjdit-e/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)</a>.He's also a GWPF donor. We know this because... well, he told us. He said:<div>"I decided to become a trustee because I was interested in energy policy and believe greater scrutiny of climate policies is needed.</div><div>... </div>Yes, I have donated to the GWPF."Booth is chairman of Anglia Ruskin University's board of governors, and sits on the board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten Symphonia.Ironically, just months after Booth became Anglia Ruskin's chairman <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://desmogblog.cmail20.com/t/t-l-byksit-jdldtjdit-s/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a mock memorial</a> to climate science deniers, including GWPF founder Nigel Lawson, Christopher Monckton and Owen Paterson and commentators Melanie Phillips, and James Delingpole won the university’s annual Sustainability Art Prize.Booth's appointment to the GWPF board has riled campaigners, who are already calling for his removal from institutions that they say he is using to "enhance his image" while "working with the UK's most vociferous bunch of climate deniers".Booth has featured on the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated wealth of £112 million. He's also donated £50,000 to the Tory party and MP Andrew Mitchell.<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://desmogblog.cmail20.com/t/t-l-byksit-jdldtjdit-g/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Read the full story by Richard Collett-White here.</a></div>=</div><div>==</div></div>