Conservative Future - History

History

Conservative Future was formed on 7 October 1998 as part of a major series of cross-party reforms introduced by then party leader William Hague. Part of the reforms including the merging of the three movements that specifically handled youth affairs within the party: the Young Conservatives, the Conservative Collegiate Forum, and the National Association of Conservative Graduates. The merger of the organisations into a single body was controversial and opposed by most members and officers of the three organisations at the time. A key change was that whereas members of the party 'opted in' to join the three organisations, under the new unified organisation membership would be automatic for all members under 20. The name 'Conservative Future' stems from the title of the party reforms 'The Fresh Future' and was only intended to be temporary. The first national chairman was the last head of Conservative Graduates, Donal Blaney, followed by Gavin Megaw, who had been the chairman of Conservative Students in its last year of existence.

At its launch, the party's national performance and dwindling activist base led to the closure of most former Young Conservative branches and student branches struggled to attract members. As formal membership records were not kept on a national database there have never been any accurate membership figures for the youth organisations before or after the creation of Conservative Future.

In 1999 Conservative Future attracted national attention following a re-branding exercise that used the slogan "CFUK", a twist on the French Connection FCUK brand. The CFUK branding was to be used on promotional material for university branches from late August to mid October 1999 but the threat of court proceedings from French Connection over breach of copyright led to Conservative Future withdrawing the promotion in early October, just before the end of the campaign.

In 2002, Conservative Future gained two positions on the national executive committee of the National Union of Students, marking their first return in seven years. This was followed up by a national tour of universities, called 'Politics Unplugged', which involved ten Shadow Cabinet members and was aimed at making politicians more approachable. CF gained further traction in 2003 and 2004, after it was announced that the party announced it would scrap university tuition fees. In 2004 alone, membership rose by 3,000, but stagnated at 15,000 members until the election of David Cameron as party leader.

Cameron's election was seen to be emblematic of a change of Conservative Future's image to 'cool', replacing the symbolism of the 'Tory boy' stereotype of previous years. This occurred most dramatically from 2006 onwards, particularly in northern England. Described by Geordie Greig as 'counter culture', this change is ascribed to 'Saatchi-isation', named for former Party Chairman Maurice Saatchi, and ideological alignment to the so-called 'Notting Hill Set' of the party leadership.