Tory campaign group urges donors to stop funding the party

The president of a Tory campaign group has urged donors to stop giving money to the party unless members are given a greater say in the way it is run.

Lord Cruddas said the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) needed to pressure the party to change.

In a speech at a gala dinner, he said Conservative members should be able to vote on MP candidates and policy.

He was backed by former cabinet minister Priti Patel, who said the party should be more democratic.

Borrowing the slogan from the campaign to leave the EU ahead of the 2016 referendum, Ms Patel said party members "need to take back control", in a speech to a black-tie event that counted leading Eurosceptic activists, senior Tory MPs and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage among its guests.

She said the CDO had stopped many members leaving the party following the "political turbulence" that saw Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both resign as prime minister last year.

"But there is a problem with conservatism, because I think it's undermined our credibility to govern," said Ms Patel, the former home secretary.

Downplaying talk of a "certain" Labour victory at the next general election, Ms Patel said: "We must offer a bold vision of conservatism."

The BBC has contacted the Conservative Party for comment.

Ms Patel's speech fired up a sympathetic audience at the CDO's dinner, held at a hotel down the road from the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

The campaign group's presence at the conference is one of several headaches for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, with his party hit by divisions over tax, the HS2 rail line and net zero.

Lord Cruddas, who has previously donated millions to the Conservative Party, founded the CDO late last year after Mr Johnson and Ms Truss were toppled by their own MPs.

The CDO sees the ousting of two prime ministers, and the effective coronation of Mr Sunak as Tory leader and prime minister, as anti-democratic and against the will of the party's membership.

On the eve of the Conservative Party conference, Sky News reported leaked messages in which members of the CDO called for Mr Sunak to be shunted from office.

One activist said it was time to "go to war" with the liberal wing of the party.

The CDO is still a relatively small group but they are growing in influence on the right of the party, with prominent figures such as Nadine Dorries - who was at Sunday night's dinner -and Jacob Rees-Mogg backing their call for more power for party members.

Top of the group's list of demands is more membership control over the selection of parliamentary and leadership candidates.

Unlike Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Conservative members have a limited democratic role in the party's internal processes.

In his speech to the CDO faithful on Sunday, Lord Cruddas said the Conservative Party had "dismantled the powers of its members in favour of a centralised control mechanism".

"We want more democracy because our party is slowly being destroyed and we need to put a stop to it," Lord Cruddas said.

He added: "We need to start applying pressure on the party board to listen to us to make major changes now before it's too late".

"So tonight," he added, "I'm asking all Conservative Party donors, including individuals or groups, big or small, to stop funding the Conservative Party until we can implement constitutional changes that reintroduces full members' rights."

The CDO's wined-and-dined guests lapped up Lord Cruddas's remarks, and those of Ms Patel.

CDO activists and journalists from the GB News channel gave them both a raucous reception in a room dotted with influential figures from the right wing of British politics.

The evening even featured an auction of experiences and gifts donated by CDO backers, including a copy of the EU withdrawal agreement signed by Boris Johnson in 2019 and a round of gold with Lord Cruddas, which sold for £1,300.

The late-night event reached its climax with dancing and a performance by the four-piece male vocal harmony group, The Overtones.

As Mr Sunak tries to rally his party behind his vision for the country in Manchester, the CDO will be singing to a different tune.