Gibraltar Conservatives
Gibraltar Conservatives | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | P.O.Box 419 Suite 16 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing[1][2] |
| National affiliation | Conservative Party |
| European affiliation | Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists |
| European Parliament group | European Conservatives and Reformists |
| International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
| Colours | Blue |
| Local affiliation | Gibraltar Social Democrats |
| Website | |
| gib-conservatives | |
The Conservative Party in Gibraltar is the part of the Conservative Party that operates in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is a branch of the South West England Region of the Conservative Party. The party does not field candidates in local elections in the territory, and only ever stood candidates for the former European Parliament constituency of South West England and Gibraltar.
History
Gibraltar was first represented in European Elections in 2004 as part of the South West England constituency. None of the main Gibraltar political parties ever contested European elections, so voters chose from United Kingdom party lists. The Gibraltar Social Democrats have however endorsed the Conservatives in European and UK Parliamentary elections.[3][4]
2004
The Conservative Party polled over two-thirds of the Gibraltar vote, with no other party exceeding 10% support. This was to a large part due to the perception that the Labour government in Britain had "betrayed" Gibraltar by attempting to negotiate a constitutional settlement involving joint sovereignty with Spain.[5] This arrangement was rejected overwhelmingly by Gibraltarians in the 2002 sovereignty referendum. The Conservatives were perceived as being unequivocal in their support for Gibraltar's continued British status. In addition both the leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard, and his deputy, Michael Ancram, flew in to rally support. Before the election the local Conservatives mounted a vigorous campaign.
2009
The Conservatives won with 51% of the votes.[6]
2014
On the previous two occasions Gibraltar has participated in European elections, the Conservative Party had topped the poll. The Liberal Democrats won the popular vote in the territory for the first time.[7]
2019
Consistent with the poor performance of the Conservatives throughout the UK in the 2019 European Parliament election, and widespread opposition to Brexit in the territory, the party received just 2.7% of the votes in Gibraltar, moving into fifth place with the Liberal Democrats and the Brexit Party taking the first and second places in the election. Incumbent MEP Ashley Fox lost his seat.[8]
Electoral performance
The below table lists performance in European Parliamentary elections.
| Year | Votes (Gib.) | Votes (SW Eng) | % (Gib.) | % (SW Eng) | Change (SW Eng) | Seats | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 8,297 | 457,371 | 69.52 | 31.6 | −10.1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2009 | 3,721 | 468,742 | 53.30 | 30.2 | −1.3 | 3 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1,236 | 433,151 | 17.2 | 28.9 | −1.4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | 256 | 144,674 | 2.7 | 8.71 | −20.19 | 0 | 5 |
MEPs
| Former Conservative MEPs for Gibraltar | Caroline Jackson Conservative 2004–2009[a] |
Neil Parish Conservative 2004–2009[b] |
Giles Chichester Conservative 2004–2014[c] |
Julie Girling Conservative 2009–2017[d] |
Ashley Fox Conservative 2009–2019 | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes
References
- ^ Saini, Rima; Bankole, Michael; Begum, Neema (April 2023). "The 2022 Conservative Leadership Campaign and Post-racial Gatekeeping". Race & Class: 1–20. doi:10.1177/03063968231164599.
...the Conservative Party's history in incorporating ethnic minorities, and the recent post-racial turn within the party whereby increasing party diversity has coincided with an increasing turn to the Right
- ^ Bale, Tim (March 2023). The Conservative Party After Brexit: Turmoil and Transformation. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 3–8, 291, et passim. ISBN 9781509546015. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
[...] rather than the installation of a supposedly more 'technocratic' cabinet halting and even reversing any transformation on the part of the Conservative Party from a mainstream centre-right formation into an ersatz radical right-wing populist outfit, it could just as easily accelerate and accentuate it. Of course, radical right-wing populist parties are about more than migration and, indeed, culture wars more generally. Typically, they also put a premium on charismatic leafership and, if in office, on the rights of the executive over other branches of government and any intermediate institutions. And this is exactly what we have seen from the Conservative Party since 2019
- ^ "May 08 – GSD Welcomes Tory Win And Repeats Call For Unity Ahead Of Possible EU Referendum". yourgibraltartv.com. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "PARTY LEADERS ON EUROPEAN ELECTIONS 19.05.14". 19 May 2014 – via YouTube.
- ^ Wilkinson, Isambard (18 May 2004). "The Tories won't let you down, Howard tells Gibraltar". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Reyes, Brian (8 June 2009). "LANDSLIDE FOR TORIES DISAPPOINTMENT FOR LABOUR". Gibraltar Chronicle. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
- ^ "Gibraltar Parliament General Election". Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Gibraltar votes chronicle.gi May 2019 Archived 27 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine