Federation of Conservative Students
Encyclopedia
The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student organisation
of the British Conservative Party
from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party.
In its final years it became known colloquially as "Maggie's Militant tendency
", this being a reference to then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
and to a divisive group within the Labour Party
. It was disbanded by Party Chairman Norman Tebbit
in 1986 and replaced by the Conservative Collegiate Forum
.
had a polarising effect on British politics and the student left moved towards radicalism in their response to them. Many students' unions would pass motions instituting a policy of "No Platform for Racists or Fascists". Starting in the early 1980s, the organisation adopted a more confrontational approach toward the left-leaning National Union of Students. Leaders, most notably from Scotland
, started advocating "voluntary students' unions". They organised campaigns aimed at disaffiliating individual students' unions from the NUS to weaken the so-called block vote, and deprive it of taxpayers' money which the NUS used for various causes. Posters and other publicity material became much more provocative and hard-hitting.
. The three main factions were:
), scepticism about liberal economics, and staunch support for the Union.
run by Chris Tame
, and the Adam Smith Institute
, run by Dr Madsen Pirie
.
The libertarian faction was the largest faction in the FCS in its last few years. Its overall dominance is illustrated by the passage of a libertarian motion in favour of free migration
at the Leicester
conference, shortly before the demise of the FCS, which was opposed by both the wet and the authoritarian factions.
Under Glendening, elected Chairman in 1984, the FCS became more controversial than ever as it embraced social libertarianism in addition to the already established endorsement of economic liberalism
; issues such as supporting the legalisation of drugs were no longer taboo."
Many former leaders of the libertarian faction, such as Mark MacGregor
, have gone on to hold senior office in the Conservative Party. Other notable members of "the Libs" were: Brian Monteith
, Lloyd Beat, Marc-Henri Glendening, Marc Gordon, Mark Allatt, Robbie Gibb, Adrian Lee, Steve Nicholson, Douglas Smith David Hoile, and Harry Phibbs. John Bercow
and Andrew Rosindell
were once also members, although they had also been part of the authoritarian faction.
(TRG). Despite a relatively high number of supporters and control of some large student bodies, they only really gained influence within the national federation through controversial alliances with the authoritarian faction.
Many of the wet chairmen joined the SDP in 1981.
In many universities the TRG organised itself as a complementary political society to the main Conservative group. This is a policy that the TRG has maintained since, although the last of these societies, the Oxford TRG Society, merged with Oxford's Conservative Association
in 2007.
than Thatcher
- ministers invited to speak at conferences were routinely chastised for not going far enough.
In addition to supporting no-holds-barred privatisation, controversial positions embraced included the support for American intervention in Grenada, RENAMO
, the UNITA
rebels in Angola
, and the Contras
in Nicaragua
. "Hang Nelson Mandela
" slogans were apparently worn by some leading members. The Federation made badges with the words "Nicaragua Must be Free". Ironically, some Labour
students began wearing them without realising their origin and intended meaning.
Some delegates to the Loughborough
conference wore T-shirts with the slogan "Morning Cloud
, remember the Belgrano
". In October 1985 they were accused of physically intimidating Edward Heath
.
The satirical magazine Private Eye
alleged that members of the FCS at Aberystwyth
wore springbok
jerseys, racially abused ethnic minority bar staff at the student bar and organised a night out in Aberystwyth town centre to celebrate the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Following the latter incident, all members of the FCS were banned from giving speeches or organising meetings at the institute under the students' union's 'No Platform for Racists or Fascists' policy.
, leading to press reports of a "riot". The officers elected at that conference were mainly of the libertarian faction who espouse many of the controversial libertarian ideals which have embarrassed the party leadership. Although it was clear that some damage was done, the so-called riot was vastly exaggerated, the final bill for repairs that the University presented came to under £20, and there would not be enough evidence to close the FCS as the then Party Chairman John Selwyn Gummer
wanted. Nevertheless, reports of "riots" in the media, including the Daily Star and the Daily Mirror, motivated Gummer immediately to suspend the FCS's £30,000 annual grant.
The Daily Telegraph wrote that the "students cleared up the mess after the offending party, and journalists who saw the room the morning after reported a damaged door handle, a missing light bulb and beer stains on the carpet in a corridor to be the only visible signs of damage." Inspector Patricia Perry of Loughborough Police Station said "there was no physical damage". In a letter to The Times
, Professor Peter Havard-Williams
of Loughborough University stated "The damage itself was not more than that done by many other conferences and was not excessive." Mark MacGregor
suggested that Gummer's actions were politically motivated: "Unfortunately, many of our supporters will see this as a move against the leaders they have elected. Our supporters are from working-class backgrounds, and the party establishment seems to feel that we don't quite fit in."
In The Observer
, Toby Young
wrote: "As nights of mob terror go, last Monday's party at the Federation of Conservative Students' Conference was pretty tame". Both Young and Sir Alfred Sherman
believed that Gummer's actions were motivated by his opposition to the libertarian ideology of some of the FCS' members which closely resembled some of Mrs Thatcher's personal beliefs. Sherman wrote that Gummer's actions were "directed against the Prime Minister". Tim Hames
and Nick Robinson
later admitted that the bill presented for damage was less than £20, and that the media reports were as a result of an "astute spinning
operation" by Wet delegates from the University of Oxford
, who "directed journalists to students who offered harrowing accounts of the boorish behaviour of libertarian activists."
, who succeeded Gummer as the party chairman
. This was for publishing an article, penned by Harry Phibbs (now a Conservative Party councillor in Hammersmith & Fulham), following Nikolai Tolstoy
's accusation that former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
was complicit in war crimes for his involvement in the forced repatriation of Cossack
prisoners of war
to Soviet Russia in the aftermath of World War II
.
Student society
A student society or student organization is an organization, operated by students at a university, whose membership normally consists only of students. They are often affiliated with a university's students' union...
of the British Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party.
In its final years it became known colloquially as "Maggie's Militant tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
", this being a reference to then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and to a divisive group within the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. It was disbanded by Party Chairman Norman Tebbit
Norman Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...
in 1986 and replaced by the Conservative Collegiate Forum
Conservative Collegiate Forum
The Conservative Collegiate Forum was the British Conservative Party's national student organisation from 1986 to 1998.It was the successor to the Federation of Conservative Students...
.
History
The organisation was created in the late 1940s to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party, It was initially named the Federation of University Conservative and Unionists Associations (FUCUA). By the late 1970s the organisation had moved considerably left of the Conservative party.Paradigm shift
The policies of Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
had a polarising effect on British politics and the student left moved towards radicalism in their response to them. Many students' unions would pass motions instituting a policy of "No Platform for Racists or Fascists". Starting in the early 1980s, the organisation adopted a more confrontational approach toward the left-leaning National Union of Students. Leaders, most notably from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, started advocating "voluntary students' unions". They organised campaigns aimed at disaffiliating individual students' unions from the NUS to weaken the so-called block vote, and deprive it of taxpayers' money which the NUS used for various causes. Posters and other publicity material became much more provocative and hard-hitting.
Factionalism
In its last years, the FCS, perhaps reflecting the debate within the Conservative party of the 1980s and the generally fractious nature of student politics, was notably prone to factionalismPolitical faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
. The three main factions were:
- An authoritarian faction
- A libertarianLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, or "sound", faction - A wetWetsDuring the 1980s, members of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom who opposed some of the more hard-line policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were often referred to as "wets"...
faction
Authoritarians
The authoritarian faction centred around the student Monday Club, and was known for its more traditional British nationalism, an isolationist posture in relation to foreign affairs, opposition to immigration, (as espoused by Enoch PowellEnoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
), scepticism about liberal economics, and staunch support for the Union.
Libertarians
The Libertarian faction (the "Libs") was closely linked to the Libertarian AllianceLibertarian Alliance
The Libertarian Alliance comprises two libertarian think tanks in Great Britain that promote free-market economics and civil liberties...
run by Chris Tame
Chris Tame
Dr Chris Ronald Tame was a British libertarian political activist. He is best known as the founder and Director of the Libertarian Alliance, a free market and civil liberties think tank.-Early years:...
, and the Adam Smith Institute
Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute, abbreviated to ASI, is a think tank based in the United Kingdom, named after one of the founders of modern economics, Adam Smith. It espouses free market and classical liberal views, in particular by creating radical policy options in the light of public choice theory,...
, run by Dr Madsen Pirie
Madsen Pirie
Dr Duncan Madsen Pirie, PhD is a British researcher, author, and educator. He is the founder and current President of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK think tank which has been in operation since 1978.-Early life and education:...
.
The libertarian faction was the largest faction in the FCS in its last few years. Its overall dominance is illustrated by the passage of a libertarian motion in favour of free migration
Free migration
Free migration or open immigration is the position that people should be able to migrate to whatever country they choose, free of substantial barriers...
at the Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
conference, shortly before the demise of the FCS, which was opposed by both the wet and the authoritarian factions.
Under Glendening, elected Chairman in 1984, the FCS became more controversial than ever as it embraced social libertarianism in addition to the already established endorsement of economic liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
; issues such as supporting the legalisation of drugs were no longer taboo."
Many former leaders of the libertarian faction, such as Mark MacGregor
Mark MacGregor
Mark MacGregor is a British Conservative Party politician. As a student, he was Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students...
, have gone on to hold senior office in the Conservative Party. Other notable members of "the Libs" were: Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith is a Scottish public relations consultant, politician and commentator, who was a Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament between 1999 and 2007.-Education:...
, Lloyd Beat, Marc-Henri Glendening, Marc Gordon, Mark Allatt, Robbie Gibb, Adrian Lee, Steve Nicholson, Douglas Smith David Hoile, and Harry Phibbs. John Bercow
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
and Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Rosindell
Andrew Richard Rosindell is an English Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Romford constituency in Greater London...
were once also members, although they had also been part of the authoritarian faction.
Wets
The wet faction had controlled the FCS until the 1980s. Most of them were members of the Tory Reform GroupTory Reform Group
The Tory Reform Group is a group aligned to, but independent of, the British Conservative Party, that works to promote the values of the One Nation Tory vision...
(TRG). Despite a relatively high number of supporters and control of some large student bodies, they only really gained influence within the national federation through controversial alliances with the authoritarian faction.
Many of the wet chairmen joined the SDP in 1981.
In many universities the TRG organised itself as a complementary political society to the main Conservative group. This is a policy that the TRG has maintained since, although the last of these societies, the Oxford TRG Society, merged with Oxford's Conservative Association
Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association, or OUCA is a student political organisation founded in 1924 whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford...
in 2007.
Political stance
In the 1980s the FCS was noted for being more radical than the main party, more ThatcheriteThatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...
than Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
- ministers invited to speak at conferences were routinely chastised for not going far enough.
In addition to supporting no-holds-barred privatisation, controversial positions embraced included the support for American intervention in Grenada, RENAMO
Mozambican National Resistance
The Mozambican National Resistance is a conservative political party in Mozambique led by Afonso Dhlakama. It fought against the FRELIMO in the Mozambican Civil War and against the ZANU movement led by Robert Mugabe from 1975 to 1992....
, the UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
rebels in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, and the Contras
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. "Hang Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
" slogans were apparently worn by some leading members. The Federation made badges with the words "Nicaragua Must be Free". Ironically, some Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
students began wearing them without realising their origin and intended meaning.
Some delegates to the Loughborough
Loughborough
Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
conference wore T-shirts with the slogan "Morning Cloud
Morning Cloud
Morning Cloud was the name given by the British politician Edward Heath to a series of five yachts which he owned between 1969 and 1983.-No. 1:...
, remember the Belgrano
ARA General Belgrano
The ARA General Belgrano was an Argentine Navy light cruiser in service from 1951 until 1982. Formerly the , she saw action in the Pacific theater of World War II before being sold to Argentina. After almost 31 years of service, she was sunk during the Falklands War by the Royal Navy submarine ...
". In October 1985 they were accused of physically intimidating Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
.
The satirical magazine Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
alleged that members of the FCS at Aberystwyth
University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth University is a university located in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding Member Institution of the former federal University of Wales. As of late 2006, the university had over 12,000 students spread across seventeen academic departments.The university was founded in 1872 as...
wore springbok
Springbok
Springbok can have the following meanings:* Springbok , a small antelope inhabiting southern and western Africa.* South Africa national rugby union team, known as the Springboks....
jerseys, racially abused ethnic minority bar staff at the student bar and organised a night out in Aberystwyth town centre to celebrate the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Following the latter incident, all members of the FCS were banned from giving speeches or organising meetings at the institute under the students' union's 'No Platform for Racists or Fascists' policy.
Alleged riot at Loughborough University
There was some damage during the 1985 FCS conference at Loughborough UniversityLoughborough University
Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...
, leading to press reports of a "riot". The officers elected at that conference were mainly of the libertarian faction who espouse many of the controversial libertarian ideals which have embarrassed the party leadership. Although it was clear that some damage was done, the so-called riot was vastly exaggerated, the final bill for repairs that the University presented came to under £20, and there would not be enough evidence to close the FCS as the then Party Chairman John Selwyn Gummer
John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal, now a member of the House of Lords. He is Chairman of the environmental consultancy company Sancroft International and Chairman of Veolia Water...
wanted. Nevertheless, reports of "riots" in the media, including the Daily Star and the Daily Mirror, motivated Gummer immediately to suspend the FCS's £30,000 annual grant.
The Daily Telegraph wrote that the "students cleared up the mess after the offending party, and journalists who saw the room the morning after reported a damaged door handle, a missing light bulb and beer stains on the carpet in a corridor to be the only visible signs of damage." Inspector Patricia Perry of Loughborough Police Station said "there was no physical damage". In a letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Professor Peter Havard-Williams
Peter Havard-Williams
Peter Havard-Williams was a Welsh librarian and library educator. In the mid 1980s, he served as Chief Librarian to the Council of Europe.-Early years:Havard-Williams received degrees in Wales and Oxford...
of Loughborough University stated "The damage itself was not more than that done by many other conferences and was not excessive." Mark MacGregor
Mark MacGregor
Mark MacGregor is a British Conservative Party politician. As a student, he was Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students...
suggested that Gummer's actions were politically motivated: "Unfortunately, many of our supporters will see this as a move against the leaders they have elected. Our supporters are from working-class backgrounds, and the party establishment seems to feel that we don't quite fit in."
In The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Toby Young
Toby Young
Toby Young, MA, FRSA is a British journalist and the author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the tale of his stint in New York as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine...
wrote: "As nights of mob terror go, last Monday's party at the Federation of Conservative Students' Conference was pretty tame". Both Young and Sir Alfred Sherman
Alfred Sherman
Sir Alfred Sherman, KBE, was a writer, journalist, and political analyst. Described by a long-time associate as "a brilliant polymath, a consummate homo politicus, and one of the last true witnesses to the 20th century", he began life as a Communist soldier in the Spanish Civil War but later...
believed that Gummer's actions were motivated by his opposition to the libertarian ideology of some of the FCS' members which closely resembled some of Mrs Thatcher's personal beliefs. Sherman wrote that Gummer's actions were "directed against the Prime Minister". Tim Hames
Tim Hames
Tim Hames is Head of Communications and Public Affairs for the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association . Before joining BVCA, he was a columnist and Chief Leader Writer at The Times. He occasionally writes travel pieces. He also wrote for The Tablet and the Charleston Mercury. Before...
and Nick Robinson
Nick Robinson
Nicholas Anthony "Nick" Robinson is a British journalist and political editor for the BBC. Robinson was interested in politics from a young age, and went on to study a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Oxford University, where he was also President of the Oxford University Conservative...
later admitted that the bill presented for damage was less than £20, and that the media reports were as a result of an "astute spinning
Spin (public relations)
In public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
operation" by Wet delegates from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, who "directed journalists to students who offered harrowing accounts of the boorish behaviour of libertarian activists."
Demise
The FCS was disbanded by Norman TebbitNorman Tebbit
Norman Beresford Tebbit, Baron Tebbit, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1981 to 1987 as Secretary of State for Employment...
, who succeeded Gummer as the party chairman
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Conservative Party is responsible for running the party machine, overseeing Conservative Central Office. When the Conservatives are in power, the Chairman is usually a member of the Cabinet being given a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio...
. This was for publishing an article, penned by Harry Phibbs (now a Conservative Party councillor in Hammersmith & Fulham), following Nikolai Tolstoy
Nikolai Tolstoy
Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky is an Anglo-Russian historian and author who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. A member of the prominent Tolstoy family, he is of part Russian descent and is the stepson of the author Patrick O'Brian...
's accusation that former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
was complicit in war crimes for his involvement in the forced repatriation of Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
to Soviet Russia in the aftermath of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Past chairmen
- Michael Hooker (194?)
- Antony Buck (194?)
- Mark CarlisleMark CarlisleMark Carlisle, Baron Carlisle of Bucklow QC DL PC was a Conservative British politician and was Member of Parliament for Runcorn 1964-1983 and Warrington South 1983-1987...
(1953) - John Magregor 1961
- Kenneth Clarke 1965
- Ian Taylor 1968
- David DavisDavid Davis (British politician)David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician who is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Haltemprice and Howden...
(1973) - Michael ForsythMichael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of DrumleanMichael Bruce Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean PC, Kt is a British financier and politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Stirling from 1983 to 1997 and served in the cabinet of John Major as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1995 to 1997...
(1977?) - Eddie Longworth (1978)
- Stuart Bayliss (1979)
- Peter Young (1980)
- Tim Linacre (1981)
- Brian MonteithBrian MonteithBrian Monteith is a Scottish public relations consultant, politician and commentator, who was a Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament between 1999 and 2007.-Education:...
1982 - Paul Goodman (1983)
- Marc-Henri Glendening (1984)
- Mark MacGregorMark MacGregorMark MacGregor is a British Conservative Party politician. As a student, he was Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students...
(1985) - John BercowJohn BercowJohn Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
(1986)