Hague membership drive falters

Official figures reveal the party faithful are losing faith.

William Hague's ambitious plans to double the membership of the Conservative Party have failed miserably, Central Office figures reveal.

A party spokesman confirmed membership is currently at 325,500.

This is down from an unofficial estimate of nearly 400,000 in 1997.

Party membership

Tories: 325,500

Labour: 361,000

Lib Dems: 90,000

The admission - forced after details were leaked to a newspaper - will embarrass Mr Hague, who made boosting flagging membership part of his campaign to become leader.

A green paper published at his first conference in charge even suggested the Tories could aim to become "a party of one million members for the millennium".

A spokesman acknowledged that Mr Hague's target had not been met.

'Coming back'

But the party insisted members had risen by 16,500 since June 2000, and said the figures signalled a return of support.

"This is further evidence that people are coming back to the Conservative Party in leaps and bounds," a spokesman said.

Mr Hague made a pledge to double membership within two years during his campaign to become party leader.

He also said half the new members should be younger than their new leader, who was 36 at the time.

The average age of a party member is currently believed to be about 62 years old.

Calculating the precise levels of membership is an inexact science.

In the past, membership records were not collected centrally and constituency associations were not obliged to inform Central Office.

Political parties are losing members.

But a tally based on the number of papers sent out to members in 1997, in the ballot to endorse Mr Hague's leadership election win, yields a total of just over 399,000.

So the party seems to have experienced a significant decline in membership on Mr Hague's watch.

An internal document seen by The Times, which has been confirmed as genuine, put membership as low as 301,413.

But a party spokesman insisted the figure was incorrect, as it mistakenly had not included members registered with Central Office rather than with local associations.

The Tories are not alone in facing an exodus of members.

Labour party membership has fallen from 405,000 in 1997 to 361,000, according to the most recent figures.

The Liberal Democrats have also failed to grow since the last election.

Membership stands still at about 90,000.

These numbers compare with the impressive levels of support recorded by some voluntary organisations.

The National Trust can claim some 2.7m members, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds more than a million.

Election success

In spite of the difficulties the Conservatives are experiencing in recruiting and retaining members, the party has succeeded in attracting election candidates.

It has become the first major party to select a full slate of candidates in Britain for the forthcoming general election.

They now have a candidate in place in 640 constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales, after Cunninghame South Conservatives in Scotland named their choice.

Labour has fewer than 40 runners still to choose and some of them are awaiting ratification by the party's National Executive Committee later this month.

Liberal Democrats are still about 100 names short.