The Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) is a student political society founded in 1921 as a Conservative Association for students at the University of Cambridge. However, it has earlier roots dating back to the late nineteenth century. CUCA is not affiliated with the nationwide youth branch of the Conservative Party, the Young Conservatives, but is a fully independent Association distinct from other Conservative youth organisations. The association puts on a range of events for its members each term, notably its ‘Port & Policy’ debates, as well as addresses from several high-profile speakers.
History The earliest incarnation of the Cambridge University Conservative Association was established in 1882, but lasted only a few months before dissolving.The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post (Bristol, England), Monday, 15 May 1882; Issue 10608 By 1884, Cambridge Conservatives launched a new group – the Cambridge University Carlton Club.Daily News (London, England), Thursday, 8 May 1884; Issue 11878 This served primarily as a dining society, and existed for the next twenty years. However, shortly after the Conservative government's landslide defeat in the 1906 general election, the Cambridge University Carlton Club dissolved, just as its predecessor had. There was no Conservative student organisation in Cambridge for the remainder of the Edwardian period, and the First World War saw party political activity suspended.
The present-day Cambridge University Conservative Association was founded in 1921, with its inaugural annual dinner held on 24 January of that year.The Times, Tuesday, 25 January 1921; page 10; Issue 42627; col B In 1928, the annual St. John's College magazine The Eagle defined "a Cambridge Conservative [association member as] the proud possessor of a certain tie, obtained by signifying with a subscription his refusal or his inability to think out any social question."T.E.B. Howarth, Cambridge Between Two Wars (Collins, London, 1978) p.152
CUCA alumni had considerable influence on British politics in the 1980s and 1990s, with the rise to prominence of the 'Cambridge Mafia' including cabinet ministers Leon Brittan, Kenneth Clarke, Norman Fowler, John Gummer, Michael Howard, and Norman Lamont, who had dominated CUCA and the Cambridge Union in the early 1960s. Considerable overlap between the officeholders of the two societies continues to the present day, while various present-day Cabinet officials and Members of Parliament are CUCA alumni.
Activities CUCA is principally a political events association, holding regular speaker meetings, social events and debates.
In recent years, CUCA has attempted to play a larger part in Cambridge University-wide politics. Members of CUCA have stood for election as Presidents of the Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU) in recent years, whilst CUCA itself has lobbied CUSU Council directly. The association remains disaffiliated from the national Conservative Party, and has instead pitched itself as a bastion of philosophical conservatism for members of Cambridge University.
CUCA's current cost of membership is £25 for life membership. Annual memberships were previously sold for £20 but their sale was ended by constitutional amendment in Easter 2023.
Debates The association's premier debating event is 'Port and Policy', which is held around four times a term. In its current format, three motions are presented. Typically the final motion is tongue-in-cheek or less serious: the divine right of kings is a recurring topic, as is the health of Western Civilisation. After speeches for and against the motion, the floor is invited to participate via floor speeches. Once the debate has concluded, voting occurs by acclamation in proposition and opposition. For many years Port and Policy had been a roundtable discussion, with the adversarial format only introduced in 2016, but this change has already driven attendance to, on occasion, over 100.
Speaker events CUCA holds regular speaker events with both Conservative politicians and right-wing thinkers. Speakers that have addressed the association in recent terms have included Jacob Rees-Mogg, John Major, Norman Tebbit and Dominic Grieve. CUCA has a well-established history of attracting a high calibre of speakers, often including Cabinet ministers, think-tank experts and former Prime Ministers.
Social events Much of CUCA's calendar is focused on social events, which have included Cava & Chocolate, Port & Cheese and Garden Parties amongst many others. A termly highlight is the Chairman's Dinner, which marks the handing over of the leadership of the association from one chairman to another.
Publication of 'Freshers' Guides' CUCA has thrice published a 'Freshers' Guide', an introductory magazine distributed to first-years designed to give instruction and advice on Cambridge student life.
The association has argued that many unavoidable aspects of student life at Cambridge (formal dinners, navigating a multitude of student societies, language) are ignored by bodies such as CUSU and College JCRs for fear of being seen to perpetuate elitism. CUCA has argued that this approach itself perpetuates elitism, and instead aims to celebrate the 'quirks and curiosities' of Cambridge by the production and dissemination of accessible advice.
The Guide returned in 2016, published as 'The Cambridge Directory'. Edited by Nicholas Taylor and Jack Drury, it offered advice on shopping, formalwear, restaurants, culture and etiquette. Within a week of publication, the 'Directory' had not only picked up press attention, but had been downloaded over 6000 times. The editors observed that Freshers had approached them praising the content of the Directory for "providing answers to questions they'd have felt awkward asking." A new version of the Guide was published in 2023.
Lobbying CUSU and remembrance In 2017, a member of CUCA stood for election to the presidency of CUSU: his membership of CUCA featured heavily in the election reporting. In 2018, another member of CUCA stood for election to the same post. His membership of CUCA also featured heavily in the election reporting. Both individuals insisted throughout their campaigns that membership of CUCA was incidental to the post for which they stood.
In October 2018, members of CUCA took a motion to CUSU Council proposing that CUSU do more to recognise the war dead. The motion was rejected. This decision by CUSU Council resulted in a significant press fallout. The then chairman of CUCA, Timur Coskun, appeared on several national news outlets to discuss the issue of remembrance.
Committee make-up Following recent reforms, CUCA is run by an executive of nine members: the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Junior Treasurer, Campaigns Officer, Communications and Publicity Officer, Speakers Officer, Speakers Officer-Elect, Secretary, and Social Events Officer. Following constitutional changes passed in Lent 2009, the Vice-Chairman automatically becomes Chairman in the term following their Vice-Chairmanship.
CUCA members may also join the committee by applying to become appointed members, whereby they sit on the committee with a non-executive remit. Constitutional reforms passed in the Easter 2023 Termly General Meeting introduced an additional two appointed posts, Alumni Officers, which are also non-executive.
Notable events 1938: Pro-appeasement In 1938, CUCA hosted Sir Samuel Hoare as he gave a vigorous defence of Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement towards Hitler at Munich, calling it "a great achievement" and "the height of exaltation".The Times, Friday, 25 November 1938; pg. 9; Issue 48161; col A
1939: Pro-freedom On the 26th of May 1939, CUCA hosted Sir Winston Churchill in Cambridge's Corn Exchange, where he argued vociferously for conscription in the face of the Nazi threat. At least 2,500 undergraduates and others attended, with further crowds listening over loudspeakers in a nearby hotel. Churchill called for Britain to lead a worldwide "League of Freedom" and received rapturous support. He gave one of his most eloquent speeches of the entire pre-war period about "the habit of despotism and the lust of conquest". The pro-conscription, anti-Hitler motion won "ten-to-one" according to a newspaper report of the event.Cambridge Independent Press, Friday, 26 May 1938; pg. 7
1956: Support for the Suez Invasion In reporting and listing widespread student protests across Britain against the invasion of Suez in 1956, The Times noted that, instead, the "Cambridge University Conservative Association sent telegrams of support to the Prime Minister (Sir Anthony Eden) and Foreign Secretary (Selwyn Lloyd)." The Times, Saturday, 3 November 1956; pg. 4; Issue 53679; col E
1960-1: Visits by Sir Oswald Mosley In 1961, the future Conservative leader Michael Howard resigned from the committee in protest at the decision of Kenneth Clarke, the then chairman, to invite Sir Oswald Mosley to address the association for the second year running. (The previous year's speech by Mosley had been marred by a heckler throwing jelly at him.)The Times, Monday, 25 April 1960; pg. 7; Issue 54754; col C
1965–1998: Allegations of electoral malpractice The society has, in the past, occasionally hit the headlines of both national and local papers over electoral disputes:
In 1965,The Times reported that CUCA's Secretary was forced to resign after a four and a half-hour meeting deemed some of his election methods to have been forbidden.The Times, Friday, 3 December 1965; pg. 6; Issue 56495; col F
In 1985, The Times again reported that eight committee members of CUCA had "resigned after allegations of electoral irregularities", with one committee member having a tape recording which he claimed proved the allegations.The Times, Monday, 4 February 1985; pg. 2; Issue 62053; col H
In early 1998, Varsity published a story alleging that "weeks of bitter in-fighting culminated in allegations of election-rigging and a move to censure the society's most senior members".https://web.archive.org/web/20000929184030/http://www.varsity.cam.ac.uk/VarsityOnline/Online2/Content/News/Stories/190299_cuca.html Varsity, 19 February 1999 However, Varsity conceded that the subsequent motions of censure themselves had no reasons formally attached to them by their proposers and that some signatories were unaware of why they were supporting them.
However, Varsity articles on CUCA elections have themselves come under fire in the past: following an Easter 2000 article, "Conservatives in Corruption Crisis", which accused the then-chairman of 'vote-buying',https://www.varsity.cam.ac.uk/802567B80049EF7D/Pages/552000_ConservativeCorruptionControversy.html the paper was forced to print a front-page "Rectification" and apology, after threats of legal action.'Rectification', Varsity, Issue 523, 12 May 2000, page 1
1969: Alleged elitism In January 2010, former Conservative MP and gay rights campaigner Matthew Parris admitted that on arriving at Cambridge in 1969 he had joined the Liberals, remarking that "I couldn't bring myself to join the CU Conservative Association because they were such braying, cravat-wearing, port-gargling, social-networking prats."Parris, Matthew (14 January 2010). "Invicta what a terrible choice of poem". The Times (London). This prompted a letter to The Times signed by CUCA's Registrar who quipped that "at any one meeting of CU Conservative Association, only one person should ever wear a cravat to avoid ostentation.""Association rules". The Times (London). 18 January 2010. Parris had previously described CUCA in his 2002 autobiography as "a dreadful shower, strutting careerists of distinctly mixed calibre, forever infighting, networking and elbowing their way through a scene which appeared more social than political."Matthew Parris, Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life in Politics (Viking, London, 2002) p.112
1985-6: Visits by Enoch Powell