Thread by @Trickyjabs

1. A thread about the Conservative Party Membership.

According to the most recent House Of Commons report into party membership, the Tories supposedly had 124,000 members, however no evidence was provided to confirm the accuracy of this.

2. The historical trend of Tory party membership has been falling for decades. According to a 2010 article it had fallen by about a third during David Cameron’s reign in opposition.

3. Following the decision to delay the Brexit leaving date in March 2019, many furious Tory members went public that they had cancelled their membership. Exactly how many left was never reported.

4. Following Theresa May’s announcement that she was to stand down it has being reported that an influx of new members had taken the total up to around 160,000, with one report suggesting it was as high as 180,000.

5. So is there any evidence that any of these figures are correct?

According to the Conservative party website, anyone residing in the UK can join the Tory party, however only those over the age of 15 have full voting rights for party elections.

6. Current Tory party annual membership fees are as follows:

Under 23 years old: £5
Full Membership: £25
Armed Services: £15

7. So how much has the party generated in membership fees? Apart from a spike in income during 2016 (possibly due to people who joined hoping to vote for David Cameron’s successor) annual income has been fairly steady, latest accounts show £835,000 of fees in the year ended 2017.

8. But this is where the quoted membership totals, the annual cost of membership and the income generated from fees don’t seem to tie up.

A reasonable estimate of how membership demographics are made up seems to suggest 2017 membership is actually much lower at around 38,000.

9. So why would there be such a discrepancy? Possible reasons:

a. Are 2/3rds+ of members given free membership?
b. Are past/deceased members included in totals?
c. Is the party lying about their total members?

Maybe the leadership election total votes will reveal more.

10. In the meantime, this report today adds even more doubt to the reliability of the Tory party membership total.

Of course, I’m sure @BrandonLewis will be only too delighted to clear up any discrepancies...and I'm sure our mainstream media journos will investigate...