Federation of Conservative Students

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The Federation of Conservative Students (FCS) was the student wing of the British Conservative Party.

In its final years, it was dubbed "Maggie's Militant tendency"^[1], and was disbanded by Party Chairman Norman Tebbit in 1986 and replaced by the Conservative Collegiate Forum.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Paradigm shift 1.2 Factionalism 1.2.1 Authoritarians 1.2.2 Libertarians 1.2.3 Wets 2 Controversy 2.1 Political stance 2.2 Alleged riot at Loughborough University 3 Demise 4 Past Chairmen 5 Trivia 6 References

[edit] History

It was created in the late 1940s to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party, It was initially named the Federation of University Conservative and Unionists Associations (FUCUA). By the late 1970s, the organisation had drifted considerably left of the Conservative party^[2].

[edit] Paradigm shift

Margaret Thatcher's policies had a polarising effect on British politics, the student left radicalised. Many Student Unions would pass motions instituting a policy of "No Platform for Racists or Fascists". Starting in the early 1980s, instead of a strategy of appeasing the left-dominated National Union of Students, the organisation adopted a more confrontational approach. Leaders, most notably from Scotland, started advocating "voluntary student unions". They would organise campaigns aimed at disaffiliating individual student unions from the NUS to weakening the block vote, and deprive it of taxpayers' money which the NUS used for various causes which the FCS believed were of no real benefit to ordinary students^[3].

Posters and other publicity material, which had been bland to the point of being almost apolitical, became provocative and hard-hitting^[2], and political tactics were often borrowed from their opponents on the left.

[edit] Factionalism

In its last years, the Federation of Conservative Students, perhaps reflecting the debate within the Conservative party of the 1980s and the generally fractious nature of student politics, was notably prone to factionalism. The three main factions were:

• An authoritarian faction
• A libertarian, or "sound", faction
• A wet faction

[edit] Authoritarians

The authoritarian faction centered around the student Monday Club, and was known for its more traditional English nationalism, an isolationist posture in relation to foreign affairs, opposition to immigration, (as espoused by Enoch Powell), scepticism about liberal economics, and staunch support for the Union. ^[4]

[edit] Libertarians

The Libertarian faction ("the Libs") was closely linked to the Libertarian Alliance run by Chris Tame ^[5], and the Adam Smith Institute, run by Dr. Madsen Pirie^[2].

The libertarian faction was the largest faction in the FCS in its last few years. Its overall dominance is illustrated by the passage of a libertarian motion in favour of free migration at the Leicester conference, shortly before the demise of the FCS, which was opposed by both the wet and the authoritarian factions^[6].

Under Glendening, elected Chairman in 1984, the FCS became more controversial than ever as it embraced social libertarianism in addition to the already established endorsement of economic liberalism; issues such as supporting the legalisation of drugs were no longer taboo."^[2]

Many former leaders of the libertarian faction, such as Mark MacGregor, have gone on to hold senior office in the Conservative Party. Other Notable members of "the Libs" were: Brian Monteith^[7], Marc-Henri Glendening, Douglas Smith ^[8][9] David Hoile^[10], and Harry Phibbs^[11]. The now "Portilloesque" MP, John Bercow was once also a member^[12].

[edit] Wets

The wet faction had controlled the Federation of Conservative Students until the 1980s. Most of whom were members of the Tory Reform Group (TRG). Despite a relatively high number of supporters and control of some large student bodies they only really gained influence within the national federation through controversial alliances with the authoritarian faction.

Many of the wet chairmen joined the SDP in 1981^[2].

In many universities the TRG organised itself as a complementary political society to the main Conservative group. This is a policy that the TRG has maintained since, although the last of these societies, the Oxford TRG Society, merged with Oxford's Conservative Association in 2007.^[13]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Political stance

In the 1980s it was noted for being more radical than the main party, more Thatcherite than Thatcher - ministers invited to speak at conferences were routinely chastised for not going far enough^[2].

In addition to supporting no-holds-barred privatisation, controversial positions embraced included the support for American intervention in Grenada, RENAMO, the UNITA rebels in Angola, and the Contras in Nicaragua^[11], "Hang Nelson Mandela" slogans.^[14] which were apparently worn by some leading members^[10]. The Federation made badges with the words "Nicaragua Must be Free". Ironically, some Labour students began wearing them without realising their real meaning.^[15].

Some delegates to the Loughborough conference wore T-shirts with the slogan "Morning Cloud, remember the Belgrano". In October 1985 they were accused of physically intimidating Edward Heath.^[16]

The satirical magazine Private Eye alleged that members of the FCS at Aberystwyth wore springbok jerseys, racially abused ethnic minority bar staff at the student bar and organised a night out in Aberystwyth town centre to celebrate the anniversary of Hitler's rise to power in Germany. Following the latter incident, all members of the FCS were banned from giving speeches or organising meetings at the institute under the student union's 'No Platform for Racists or Fascists' policy. ^[17]

[edit] Alleged riot at Loughborough University

There was some damage during the 1985 FCS conference at Loughborough, leading to press reports of a "riot". At that conference, the officers elected were mainly of the libertarian faction who espouse many of the controversial libertarian ideals which have embarrassed the party leadership.^[18] Although it was clear that some damage was done, the so-called riot was vastly exaggerated, the final bill for repairs that the University presented came to under £20, and there would not be enough evidence to close the FCS as the then Party Chairman John Selwyn Gummer wanted. Nevertheless, seizing media reports of "riots" the media, including Daily Star and the Daily Mirror, Gummer immediately suspended the FCS's £30,000 annual grant.^[19]

The Daily Telegraph wrote that the "students cleared up the mess after the offending party, and journalists who saw the room the morning after reported a damaged door handle, a missing light bulb and beer stains on the carpet in a corridor to be the only visible signs of damage."^[20] Inspector Patricia Perry of Loughborough Police Station said "there was no physical damage". In a letter to The Times, Professor Peter Havard-Williams of Loughborough University stated "The damage itself was not more than that done by many other conferences and was not excessive."^[21]

Mark MacGregor suggested that Gummer's actions were politically motivated: "Unfortunately, many of our supporters will see this as a move against the leaders they have elected. Our supporters are from working-class backgrounds, and the party establishment seems to feel that we don't quite fit in."^[22]

In The Observer, Toby Young wrote: "As nights of mob terror go, last Monday's party at the Federation of Conservative Students' Conference was pretty tame".^[23] Both Young and Sir Alfred Sherman believed that Gummer's actions were motivated by his opposition to the libertarian ideology of some of the FCS' members which closely resembled some of Mrs. Thatcher's personal beliefs. Sherman wrote that Gummer's actions were "directed against the Prime Minister".^[24]

Tim Hames and Nick Robinson later admitted that the bill presented for damage was less than £20^[25], and that the media reports were as a result of an "astute spinning operation" by Wet delegates from Oxford University, who "directed journalists to students who offered harrowing accounts of the boorish behaviour of libertarian activists." ^[26]

[edit] Demise

The FCS was disbanded by Norman Tebbit, who succeeded Gummer as the party chairman, for publishing an article, penned by Harry Phibbs, following Nikolai Tolstoy's accusation that former Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was complicit in the forced repatriation of Serbian Cossack prisoners of war in the aftermath of World War II^[2].

[edit] Past Chairmen

• Michael Hooker (194?)^[27]
• Antony Buck (194?)^[28]
• Mark Carlisle (1953)^[29]
• David Davis (1973) ^[30]
• Peter Young (1980)^[2]
• Brian Monteith
• Paul Goodman (1983)^[2]
• Marc-Henri Glendining (1984)^[2]
• Mark MacGregor (1985)
• John Bercow (1986)^[31]

[edit] Trivia

• A former Northern region FCS chairman^[32], William Beggs, was convicted in 2001 of the sexual murder and dismemberment of 18 year old Barry Wallace in 1999.^[33]
• A group of prominent Conservatives who were former FCS activists disaffected by Ian Duncan Smith's leadership in 2002 allegedly discussed a breakaway libertarian Conservative "Start Again Party" ^[34]

[edit] References