Free Essays

Conservative Parties in the UK and in Canada

Continued from: Conservative Party in the UK and in Canada: Part 3

But the level of the popularity of the parties does not depend only on their political accomplishments. Except some hopes about the politicians' political performance, people have certain personal expectations from them.

Although the standards accordingly to which politicians of any country are expected to behave are very high, it is a must to have them met in order to maintain the public respect and gain enough votes to win an election. Conservative parties both in United Kingdom and Canada are promoting to their members to behave accordingly to public expectations. A good example of such demand would be the present leader of the British Opposition, who told party members that they had to learn the lessons of the election defeat if they wanted to return to power. He said that MPs, councillors and ordinary party members who brought the party into disrepute would no longer be tolerated (www.conservative-party.org.uk.)

If, however, an incident that does not match the image of a party member occurs, the politician that was the cause of it will have no choice but to step down. In 1990s, for instance British newspapers were full of stories about the private lives of Conservative MPs and ministers, several of whom were forced to resign. Heritage Secretary David Mellor was the first to go when his extra-marital affair was revealed. Tim Yeo resigned as an environment minister when it was revealed he had fathered a secret love child. David Ashby also resigned as a parliamentary private secretary after admitting that he had once shared a bed with a man and Hartley Booth also gave up his position as a PPS when he admitted to an infatuation with a female researcher. But these were not the only problems concerning sleaze that affected the party. Tim Smith and Neil Hamilton stepped down as ministers when The Guardian published claims that they had accepted money from Harrods' owner Mohammed Al Fayed to table parliamentary questions. Jonathan Aitken also resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury following newspaper reports that he had lied to the cabinet over who paid his bill during a stay at the Paris Ritz. David Willetts, the paymaster general, also resigned following a report by the Standards and Privileges Committee which accused him of "dissembling". There are plenty of examples of Canadian politicians stepping down having failed the expectations of the public, and their party members. Joe Clark resigned in 1983 when he became incredibly unpopular with his caucus. Brian Mulroney passed on the control over the Conservative Party to Kim Campbell when "the party's scandals and controversial policy decisions eroded … [his] influence in government and in the public eye" (John Guy, People Politics and Government). Kim Campbell, in her turn, left the party leadership having failed the 1993 election.

Still, it is not always that the party members step down on their own will. The MPs, who fail to maintain the respectable image of the party, may get deselected on decision of a vote of no confidence as a way of punishment and removing them from the public sight. For instance, in March 1997 Sir George Gardiner had been deselected as the party candidate for his seat of Reigate when he accused Prime Minister John Major of being Chancellor Kenneth Clarke's ventriloquist's dummy in a newspaper article. But he was not the only one. Sir Nicholas Scott was deselected in December 1996 on decision of a vote of no confidence in his constituency following his arrest for drink-driving and failing to stop at a road accident.

Even if our expectations for the politicians were reasonable most of the time, sometimes we just expect from them what we would never require from ordinary "down-to-earth" people. Is it fair? The decision is up to us.

Failing to meet the idealistic objectives we have for our politicians ends up being really dangerous for them - they can lose their jobs and career. Involvement of new members has always been an important issue for both clans of Tories just as for any other political caucus. Youth is especially interesting for the parties, since people in their teens are particularly easy to influence. This is what PC Youth Association in Canada and the Conservative Future in Gt. Britain are all about. The parties need young people who would "initiate political changes at the federal level" (Progressive Conservative Party of Canada on the Internet). Therefore they put as much effort as they possibly can to get the youth interested in the chance "not only to acquire valuable leadership skills and political savvy but … also gain friends across the country while having the best time in ... [their] life" (Progressive Conservative Party of Canada on the Internet).

"Get involved and discover why thousands of young Canadians already belong to the PC Youth", encourages the Conservative Party on the Party's website . Considering that the population of our country is about 32 million, the fact that it is only "thousands" of young people who have joined the Tories, does not sound very impressive.

The big issue for the British Conservatives now is the upcoming election for the European Parliament, which will take place on 10th June, 1999. At this time Britain has 84 so-called MEPs (members of European Parliament) from whom 15 are Conservatives.

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP Leader of the Tories in the European Parliament in his message posted on the party's website proves that whoever runs the Parliament directly shapes the future of Europe. His platform is to "take Europe back [from Labour Party] and put it on the right path - the path of markets, competition, openness and free-trade.

Continued here: Conservative Party in the UK and in Canada: Part 5