The Conservatives are holding a “National Action Day” tomorrow for the Euro Elections. There will be another on April 26th. The Party Chairman Grant Shapps has tweeted about it.
The link to the Party website says:
Across the country, Conservative volunteers are taking part in Action Days to campaign for real change in Europe. Sign up below, and a member of Team2015, our volunteer network, will be in contact shortly.
There is then a form to fill in where those willing:
Across the country, Conservative volunteers are taking part in Action Days to campaign for real change in Europe. Sign up below, and a member of Team2015, our volunteer network, will be in contact shortly.
For a political party to seek to encourage supporters to assist with election campaigning is unremarkable but I hope that those Conservative Home readers who also happen to be Conservative Party supporters will consider responding to it.
What is part of a trend is that there are no different levels of Conservative supporters. There used to be Conservative voters and Conservative members. It is all rather more flexible now.. Someone who might not wish to be a Party member – perhaps out of a sense that they would be in some way constrained by such a contract – might be willing to pitch up at their local shopping centre on April 26th for a couple of hours and help hand out leaflets or balloons or whatever the task is.
Others might decide to “like” the Conservative Party on Facebook. or retweet one of Mr Shapps’ tweets.
It is possible to join the Conservative Party for £25. Yet someone might wish to make a donation of £100 but not join. Some might join but not ever attend a Conservative Party event. By contrast in Clacton non-members can routinely pay the Conservative £10 and come and eat fish and chips with their Conservative MP Douglas Carswell. Some then choose to become party members – others do not.
While it is a pity that some supporters choose not to join it is cerainly right to recognise that non-members are willing to help the cause. Often far more than many members.