Oxford University Conservative Association
| Founded | 1924 |
| Honorary President | Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Trinity College |
| Senior Member | Prof. Paul Elbourne, Magdalen College |
| Home page | http://www.ouconservatives.com |
The Oxford University Conservative Association is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future, the Conservative Party youth wing. Until her death on 8 April 2013, the Patron of the association was Margaret Thatcher. In the summer of 2015, Sir John Major became the new patron of the association. The Honorary President is Jacob Rees-Mogg.
OUCA alumni include many prominent Conservative Party figures, including former Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers. Among them are William Hague, Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Grieve. Past presidents of OUCA include Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, Jonathan Aitken, William Rees-Mogg, Daniel Hannan and Nick Robinson. Former OUCA committee members or officers include Theresa May, Sir George Young, Ann Widdecombe, Jacob Rees-Mogg and the Earl of Dartmouth. Former Labour ministers Ed Balls and Chris Bryant are also OUCA alumni.
Committee
OUCA is run by its officers and committee, who are elected on a termly basis. The association has six Senior Officers, namely the President, the President-elect, the Treasurer, the Treasurer-elect, the Secretary, and the Political Officer, who chairs Port & Policy each week and is also responsible for organising campaigning events and social action. Four Junior Officers also help manage the association, as do its six committee members. OUCA's Returning Officer is responsible for running the elections and for administering association's internal disciplinary procedures. The President may appoint non-executive officers, such as a press officer. The Association's Rules and Standing Orders are available on its website.In October 2018, OUCA announced that members of the Bullingdon Club would be banned from holding office within the Association. OUCA president, Ben Etty, said the Club's "values and activities had no place in the modern Conservative Party". This decision was overturned by the association's disciplinary committee, as non-members were brought to the council meeting that voted for the ban. Despite this, the ban was subsequently reimposed by the association's Senior Member, Brian Young.
Relationship with the national Conservative Party
OUCA members sometimes stand for election to Oxford City Council. The council has traditionally been Labour-dominated, and the Conservatives have not held a seat on it since 2001. Alex Stafford stood unsuccessfully for Holywell Ward in the 2008 Oxford City Council Election, achieving an 8.2% swing for the Conservatives. His brother Gregory, now a councillor in the London Borough of Ealing, stood in the same ward in 2004. More recently, Poppy Stokes and OUCA President Maryam Ahmed stood for the Conservatives in the 2014 Oxford City Council Election in the Holywell and Carfax wards respectively. This trend of putting up students as candidates in the city centre continued in the 2016 city council election, when OUCA President, George Walker, stood in Holywell Ward.Oxford University Tory Reform Group
described the OUCA that he encountered on his arrival at Pembroke College in 1951. Despite its 2,000 members, he said, "it was dominated by a patrician clique who preserved their power by preventing the membership at large from electing officers of the association. These were chosen by the committee which, although directly elected, was easily open to manipulation." Critchley and Michael Heseltine, defeated in their bids for OUCA office, set up a rival Conservative society, the Blue Ribbon Club.In 1965 a group of OUCA members formed the Oxford University Tory Reform Group, pre-dating the national Tory Reform Group organisation. The OUTRG acted as a "one nation conservative" pressure group in Oxford, although it had a substantially smaller membership than OUCA. Interest declined as the national party became more moderate, and the OUTRG voted to disband and merge with OUCA during Michaelmas term 2007.
In an email to OUTRG members, its president Luke Connoly reported that an extraordinary general meeting held at the Lamb and Flag public house at 3pm on 18 November 2008 unanimously voted to dissolve the OUTRG as of midday Saturday 8th week and to merge with OUCA. He cited falling attendance and a belief that OUCA had "genuinely become more liberal", adding that the merger "will make debate between wings of the party much easier and more productive". Later in the year, Douglas Hurd, a patron of the national TRG, lamented the disbanding of the Oxford Branch, saying that it was "very important that the One Nation view is powerfully represented".
Port and Policy
OUCA's most popular regular event is Port and Policy, in which political discussion is helped along by fortified wine. Between Trinity Term 1994 and Michaelmas 2012, Port and Policy was held eight times a term on Sunday evenings in the Oxford Union. In Michaelmas 2012 the Oxford Union did not renew the contract, and OUCA now uses other Oxford venues. Although the format is decided by the President and the Political Officer, two pre-announced motions are usually debated, followed by an emergency motion. The debate is held in a relaxed environment, accompanied by port. In May 2007, Port and Policy featured in the Channel 4 documentary Make Me a Tory. Port and Policy has been sponsored by The Spectator, who provided numerous complimentary copies of their publication, and Dow's Port, who provided discounted port. The growth in attendance at Port and Policy was featured in a 2008 Financial Times article as evidence of growing popularity for the Conservatives among students.In the media
The Channel 4 documentary Make Me a Tory, produced by Daniel Cormack, aired on 13 May 2007. It included footage from one of OUCA's Port and Policy meetings and an interview with Conservative party leader David Cameron.In Trinity Term 2010, just over a week before the 2010 General Election, the Oxford Mail reported John Major's visit to the association.
In Hilary Term 2011, Courtney Love took part in a Port and Policy event. She joined the association, and the president appointed her non-executive officer for rock and roll.
Controversy
Accusations of racism
In 2000 four OUCA members were expelled from a meeting for making "Nazi-style salutes". The New Statesman reported that a member of the OUCA committee at the University's 2001 Fresher's Fair greeted new students by saying, "Welcome to OUCA – the biggest political group for young people since the Hitler Youth". Another member was dismissed from the Oxford University Student Union's executive for "marching up and down doing a Nazi salute". In 2007 a drunken OUCA member gave a Nazi salute at a meeting attended by a former Tory MP.In 2004 an ex-treasurer of the association was found guilty of bringing OUCA into disrepute "after posting 'offensive' comments about India in a newsletter". At an OUCA hustings in 2009, two candidates made racist jokes, encouraged by others present. The incident led to national media coverage and an investigation by the University, which then refused to re-register the association, forcing it to drop University from its name and become OCA. As a result of the incident, two members were expelled from the national Conservative party, and the Oxford Union banned OUCA from using its premises for hustings and in-camera events.
In 2011 The Oxford Student newspaper received leaked video footage of an OUCA member singing the first line of a song glorifying the Nazi Party in the Junior Common Room of Corpus Christi College after an OUCA meeting at the Oxford Union in 2010. This led to the resignation of some current and former members of the association. The university launched an investigation into the society as a result of the reports. The Dean of Corpus Christi subsequently banned all OUCA events at the college indefinitely.
In 2020 a member standing in the OUCA elections was reported to have quoted from the Rivers of Blood speech while at a drinking event. The member later resigned his membership, and dropped out of the election. During the same election, the losing presidential candidate, who would have been the association's first black president had he been elected, raised accusations that the election had been rigged against him. He was then expelled from the association after its Disciplinary Committee ruled that he had brought OUCA into disrepute by raising false allegations.