Oxford University Conservative Association
Encyclopedia : O : OX : OXF : Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student political organization founded in 1924 whose members are drawn from Oxford University. Amongst its alumni are many significant Conservative Party figures, including Cabinet ministers and Prime Ministers, and former Presidents include Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, William Hague, Lord Rees-Mogg and Nick Robinson.
OUCA's reputation has been tarnished in recent years by a number of controversies, which have attracted press coverage both within Oxford University and in some cases in the national press. Despite this, OUCA has more recently begun to repair its relations with the Conservative Party, and been visited by figures such as Margaret Thatcher (November 2002), George Osborne, Alan Duncan, John Redwood, Ann Widdecombe, the Earl of Onslow, Iain Duncan Smith, David Willetts, Oliver Letwin and Lord Patten, and it was recently praised in the Mail on Sunday by Lord Rees-Mogg. Lord Rees-Mogg. "Tories must listen to the Oxford Blues". Mail on Sunday, 2006-02-12.p.67.[link]
- 1 Membership and constitution
- 1.1 Officers, Michaelmas Term 2006
- 1.2 Recent OUCA Presidents
- 1.3 College Influence and \"vote buying\"
- 2 OUCA controversies
Membership and constitution
OUCA is run by its officers and committee, who are elected each term.In addition, there is a Returning Officer, responsible for the elections and for administering OUCA's internal disciplinary procedures, and from time to time, there may also be an appointed Non-executive Officer, or a Press Officer.
OUCA's membership (reported to be more than 720 members in February 2004 as well as currently being at that figure [link], making it one of the largest youth political organisations in the world has been consistently high. It has more members than all Oxford University's other political groups combined,although this is mainly attributed to the practice of 'vote buying' (see below).
Officers, Michaelmas Term 2006
| Office | Officer | College |
|---|---|---|
| President | Charlie Steel | Merton College |
| President-Elect | Ian Wellby | Keble College |
| Treasurer | Will Blair | Corpus Christi College |
| Treasurer-Elect | Alexander Stafford | St. Benet's Hall |
| Secretary | Sam Belcher | St. Edmund Hall |
| Political Officer | Camilla Dolan | Merton College |
| Returning Officer | Matthew Richardson | St. Peter's College |
| Junior Officer | Jack Mason | University College |
| Junior Officer | Brad Johnson | Keble College |
| Junior Officer | Alexandra Walton | Regent's Park College |
| Dean | The Rev. Fr. David Johnson | Selwyn College (Cambridge) |
Recent OUCA Presidents
| Year | Term | President | College |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Michaelmas | Charlie Steel | Merton College |
| Trinity | Charlie Steel (Acting President) | Merton College | |
| Trinity | Simon Clarke | University College* | |
| Hilary | Sophie Steele | Christ Church, Oxford | |
| 2005 | Michaelmas | Christopher Ware | Greyfriars Hall |
| Trinity | Alexander Samuels | University College | |
| Hilary | Matthew Smith | Mansfield College, Oxford | |
| 2004 | Michaelmas | Timothy Ayles | Trinity College |
| Trinity | Andrew Harper | Wadham College, Oxford | |
| Hilary | Blair Gibbs | Merton College, Oxford | |
| 2003 | Michaelmas | Oliver Pepys | Oriel College, Oxford |
| Trinity | John Townsend | University College | |
| Hilary | Edward Tomlinson | St. John's College | |
| 2002 | Michaelmas | Marc Stoneham | Merton College, Oxford |
| Trinity | Jamie Gardiner | Somerville College, Oxford | |
| Hilary | Ed Sutton | Magdalen College, Oxford | |
| 2001 | Michaelmas | Nicholas Bennett | Lincoln College, Oxford |
| Trinity | Marcus Walker | Oriel College, Oxford | |
| Hilary | William Charles | Trinity College | |
| 2000 | Michaelmas | Gabriel Rozenberg | Lincoln College, Oxford |
*In Trinity Term 2006, then-OUCA President Simon Clarke and several senior OUCA officers resigned at 3rd week council[link]. This related to the ongoing controversy over allegations of forgery involving both Clarke and then-President Elect Charlie Steel[link]. Following Clarke's resignation, Steel became Acting President, and will still be President in Michaelmas Term 2006.
College Influence and \"vote buying\"
The collegiate nature of Oxford allows individual colleges to exert hegemony within student societies. Within OUCA, this has led to periods in which one or two colleges, traditionally including Oriel and Christ Church, have been particularly dominant. More recently, membership has filtered towards the Permenent Private Halls, with almost all of St. Benet's Hall and Greyfriars undergraduates being members. An increasingly large contigent of members is currently to be found at Keble.
This arises in part from the electoral practice of "Vote-buying", in which candidates for office pay the membership fees of other students, in the expectation that these new members will then vote for their patron in the elections. The practice effectively ensures a minimum financial qualification for the office of President, and gives great significance to the Returning Officer’s duty of declaring the “Close of New Members” in the 6th Week of each University Term. This marks the last date on which a new member may join OUCA and vote in its elections that term. The list of new members announced immediately following this is usually lengthy and drawn mostly (though not exclusively) from the colleges of the leading candidates’ for the higher offices.
The practice has historically driven membership numbers at individual colleges well above any normal level - such as the 102 members at Oriel in 2002-3, which represented one-third of the then JCR.
Vote-buying is officially forbidden, but candidates in OUCA's elections are in effect expected simply to exercise discretion in the manner in which they go about it. Several internal disciplinary proceedings have been brought on allegations of vote-buying, though none have so far been successful. In part, the practice is tolerated because of OUCA's periodic financial problems, which mean that the it requires the proceeds of vote-buying to avoid insolvency. All though these financial difficulties have been solved recently thanks to the build up of members due to the HT06 and TT06 elections, the Acting-President tried to further increase revenue by attempting to sell the infamous OUCA Flag which provoked a backlash from ex-members and ultimately resulted in it being stolen by the Moles Dining Society so that it could not be sold [link].
OUCA controversies
OUCA has frequently featured in the student, local, and national media as a result of controversy.2006
Simon Clarke/Charlie Steel - Forgery
On 4th May 2006, OUCA President-Elect Charlie Steel stood as a Conservative candidate in the council election in the Holywell ward in Oxford. He polled 165 votes, coming third behind the Liberal Democrats (564 votes), and the Green party (276 votes)[link].However, it had been reported prior to polling day that his nomination paper was the subject of a police investigation, centering on allegations that some of the signatures on it were forged[link] [link] [link], and this led to calls within OUCA for his resignation.
An open letter to the Cherwell[link], signed by 24 current and former OUCA officers and officials, called on Steel to resign.[link].
On Wednesday 3rd May, it emerged that OUCA President Simon Clarke had forged the signature of Alexander Samuels, an Ex-President of OUCA, copying it from a cheque to a bank mandate form for OUCA's bank account, and that both Ex-OUCA President Sophie Steele and Sophie Moate (who at the time was Treasuer-Elect) were aware of the forgery, and accompanied Clarke when he took the forged mandate to the bank. Both Steele and Moate claimed to have expressed concerns about the forgery at the time[link] [link].
On Wednesday 10th May, Clarke resigned during OUCA Council, acknowledging his own contribution to the ongoing controversy. His resignation was followed by that of several other officers (including several signatories to the previous week's letter to Cherwell). The departing Treasurer and Treasurer-Elect were both reported as referred to Steel's failure to resign in their resignation statements. Ironically, following Clarke's resignation, Steel succeeded him as President[link].
On Friday 12th May, a correction was printed by Cherwell, which expressly sought to avoid any implication that Sophie Steele had prompted Clarke to forge Alex Samuels' signature. However, the correction reported for the first time that the cheque signed by Samuels, which Clarke used as the basis for his forgery, had been provided "...reluctantly..." by Steele. It also went on to state that Clarke had not, as originally reported, denied having tried to submit the forged mandate to the bank, but only that the mandate had in fact been submitted. It was already a matter of record that the mandate had been rejected by the bank for reasons unconnected with the forgery. [link]
Partly in response to the ongoing allegations about Charlie Steel, and partly in response to claims that Steel intended to sell OUCA's Union flag to raise funds, a group, calling themselves the "People’s Front for the Liberation of OUCA", which includes OUCA's current Political Officer Ian Wellby, stole the flag, and issued a statement demanding Steel's resignation. Cherwell speculated that the group is an offshoot of the Moles Dining Club[link].
2005
George Galloway
In Michaelmas 2005, a visit by the RESPECT MP, George Galloway was cancelled following a dispute between the Oxford University Labour Club ("OULC") and OUCA, and the publication of an open letter by OULC's co-chairs calling on Galloway to boycott OUCA. Part of OULC's complaint against OUCA concerned the disciplinary action taken by OUCA following anti-semitic remarks made by an OUCA member (David Cochrane) to the then-Political Officer, Paul Stuart, at an OUCA event the preceding term, and also latterly involved an alleged claim by OUCA at the 2001 Fresher's Fair to be "...the largest student political body since the Hitler Youth..."[link] [link].Matthew Smith/Cameron Penny - In-fighting
In Hilary Term 2005, Matt Smith, OUCA's then-president, used his termcard to attack another faction within the association. Cherwell reported this under the headlines "OUCA poised on brink of civil war"[link]. It was later reported that Smith had been accused by an un-named OUCA member of homophobic abuse and harassment, an allegation which Smith denied[link]. Within a week of this complaint, Smith had been removed from office by OUCA's Returning Officer Andrew Grey, following a un-related complaint by Cameron Penny, a member of OUCA's committee. Penny's complaint related to a technical qualification, known as Activist Points, which OUCA officers are required to fulfil both before and after election. Penny alleged that Smith, whilst OUCA Treasurer, had failed to fulfil this requirement, and so should be deemed to have resigned. As a result of this deemed resignation, he would not have been eligible to stand in the Presidential election (which he won). On the Returning Officer's initial interpretation of OUCA's constitution, this complaint was upheld, but following a meeting of the OUCA Council (the associations governing body) this decision was reversed, and Smith reinstated[link].[#endnote_oxstu-smith]David Cochrane/Paul Stuart - Anti-Semitism
In Hilary Term 2005, an OUCA member, David Cochrane, was disciplined by OUCA for making anti-semitic remarks to OUCA's then-Political Officer, Paul Stuart, at an event which Stuart was chairing.2004
Anatole Pang/Avi Patchava - Racism
In Michaelmas Term 2004, a candidate for President of OUCA, Anatole Pang, was the subject of an internal disciplinary complaint by the editor of OUCA's Blueprint newsletter, Junior Officer Avi Patchava. In article submitted for Blueprint, Pang was reported to have written “...the problem with India is its culture...[It is]...stained by two main features which hold the country down continually with little sign of change: democracy and Hinduism.” Contemporaneous reporting of the incident highlighted that Patchava, a candidate for OUCA Secretary, was supporting Pang's rival in the election for President, and that his complaint did not apparently involve fellow OUCA committee member Robert Thompson, whose contribution to Pang's submitted article apparently included asserting "The problem with India is the natives. They are ugly, malodorous, fraudulent, and worst of all, brown! I was shocked to discover that there is an entire nation of over a billion people who are brown as the ace of spades." It is not clear whether any disciplinary action was taken against Thompson[link]. Pang's remarks were condemned by OUCA's then President, and the subsequent internal disciplinary committee found him guilty of bringing the society into disrepute[link].Sam Parr/Ken Owen - Resignations
In Hilary Term 2004, Sam Parr, a member of the OUCA committee, and then-President-Elect of the Oxford Tory Reform Group resigned his OUCA post. His resignation letter cited his other commitments, but Cherwell quoted him as having called OUCA "...insular and extremist..." and saying that it was "...in danger of becoming an irrelevance..." and "...unattractive to most of its own members and unable to appeal to the vast majority of students." The same Cherwell report noted that the TRG had only 30 members, to OUCA's 720[link]. Later that term, OUCA member Ken Owen wrote to Cherwell, to complain about the Port and Policy evening he had attended the previous day. His letter implied that those attending had demonstrated "...snobbery, racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia..." in addition to "...proclaiming the divine right of Kings..."[link].2002
Emily Wentz/Jamie Gardiner - Electoral Integrity
In 2002, claims about the validity the appointment as Returning Officer of Emily Wentz, girlfriend of the then-President, Jamie Gardiner, led to public disputes within OUCA[#endnote_oxstu-gardener], and to a "constitutional crisis" and a number of internal disciplinary tribunals.#redirect1999
Will Goodhand/Christine Hamilton - Drunken Dinner
In Trinty Term 1999, one of OUCA's junior officers, Will Goodhand, was photographed kissing Christine Hamilton during a drinking session which followed the OUCA termly dinner at which she and her husband, former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, had been guests. The photograph appeared on the front-page of The Sun. According to The Oxford Student, "Several guests at the dinner reported that Neil Hamilton's speech was peppered with racist and sexist remarks, explicitly referring to "the natives from Ungabunga land."" The same report quoted one guest as saying, "I left with a real sense it was all incredibly distasteful and utter shock to realise that OUCA was actually as sordid as I always thought it had been" while another guest likened the after-party to an "Orgy."[#endnote_oxstu-deb].Nazi Drinking Song
Later the same term, under the headline "OUCA swing to Reich-wing", the Oxford Student published the lyrics of a drinking song entitled "Dashing Thro’ The Reich”, which it alleged was sung by OUCA members to the tune of 'Jingle Bells'[#endnote_oxstu-lurch]
- ''"Dashing thro' the Reich / In a black mercedes-benz / killing lots of kikes / Rat-a-tat-tat-tat /
- ''Mow the buggers down / Oh what fun it is to be / the SS in ze town / Oh lebensraum , lebensraum /
- ''Tack the buggers out / Oh what fun it is to be / an intolerant Kraut."
1989
Strippers
In Trinity Term 2005, a Cherwell oped article referred to OUCA as "...inviting strippers to perform “lewd acts” in 1989"[link].OUCA Campaigning
OUCA's home constituency is Oxford West and Abingdon. OUCA often campaigns in local and general elections in other constituencies, although without much demonstrable success.In 1997 the seat of Winchester was lost to Mark Oaten by two votes, and the incumbent Conservative MP, Gerry Malone successfully challenged the result in the High Court. OUCA campaigned in the resultant by-election, but the Liberal Democrat majority of 2 increased to 21,556.
Both the The Timesand the Oxford Student[#endnote_oxstu-bottomley] reported OUCA's 2004 campaigning tour of southern England, led by then President Oliver Pepys (Oriel). The stories centered on the fact that the group stayed with married Tory MPs Virginia and Peter Bottomley, and woke them up in the early hours of the morning by singing Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Iolanthe' under their bedroom window.
External links
References
- [Oxford Student: OUCA swing to Reich-wing] (Trinity Term 1999)
- [Oxford Student: Debauchery and Depravity] (Trinity Term 1999)
- [Oxford Student: OUCA PMs to judge Gardener?] (Trinity Term 2003)
- [Oxford Student: Oxford Tories wake up Bottomley] (Hilary Term 2003)
- [Oxford Student: OUCA President survives by single vote] (Hilary Term 2005)
- [Oxford Student: OUCA treasurer stripped of office] (Hilary Term 2006)
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