The National Convention is the oldest national institution within the Conservative Party, representing its members and volunteers. I passionately believe that we volunteers are the backbone of the Party, and that through the National Convention we will be a vital element in bringing our Party back to government, along with our professional staff and our elected representatives.
My fellow Convention Officers introduce themselves below, and we will work as a team on your behalf. In terms of my own background, I have been an active volunteer for 25 years, being an Association and Area Chairman in the South East (as well as spending 19 years as a councillor) before moving to the South West and becoming Regional Chairman. More recently, as a Vice President of the National Convention I worked as part of Peter Booth's team, in particular supporting the North West and West Midlands regions. It is fair to say that the Voluntary Party is my passion.
It is a privilege to have been elected by you to be your Chairman, and I hope that together we can make this institution stronger and better in the time we each have before we hand over to our successors. We will not always agree on everything along the way, but by respecting each other as fellow volunteers, being accountable for our actions and making decisions democratically, we will make progress.
Michael is currently President of the National Conservative Convention and Chairman of the Party Conference, having been elected in September 2024. He was first elected as Vice President of the Convention in 2022.
He was Chairman of the North West Region from 2018-2021 and has also served as Greater Manchester Area Chairman from 2016-2019. He had experience of being a Constituency Officer when he was Chairman of Makerfield Conservative Association from 1997 - 2001 and was also the First Chairman of Wigan Federation (Wigan, Makerfield & Leigh Constituencies) when it was formed.
Michael has also served in Local Government as a Councillor on Wigan Council for a total of 17 years and he has stood for Parliament on five occasions in the North West, the first election being 1997 and latterly in this year’s General Election in the Leigh & Atherton Constituency.
Fleur started in politics as a councillor, before becoming Leader of Richmondshire District Council. She served as the only woman on the Yorkshire Leadership Board, whilst also being on the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. She was on the candidate list and stood as an MEP for Yorkshire in 2009. As National Chairman of Conservative Women’s Organisation, she rewrote the constitution and quadrupled the membership number, creating the modern CWO. She is Director of Development for CWO, leading one of the world’s top training networks for women in politics and has regularly been asked to help train political parties around the world.
Fleur is the most experienced National Convention member on the Party Board, entering her 4th year. She is currently Deputy Chairman of CPF, and is leading on initiatives such as the Conservative Values survey, and on the CPF Female Communications Project.
Fleur is married with 4 sons and lives in Yorkshire.
John is a chartered accountant and after a long career with Deloitte now runs his family’s sports insurance business whilst serving the Conservative Party nationally wherever and whenever he can. Currently South East Regional Chairman and Chairman of the Associations’ Board of Finance, John lives in West Sussex where he is also a Mid Sussex District Councillor. In 2023 he bucked the national trend when he was re-elected with an increased majority having won the seat from the Lib Dems in 2015.
Very engaged in his community John is also chair of governors of a local primary school as well as chairman of his local tennis club and bonfire society!
Although John doesn't get much free time, when he does he loves to play tennis and golf as well as looking after his springer spaniel Drake who is occasionally allowed to join John on the campaign trail.
Stewart was born in Essex but he has lived in Yorkshire for 20 years. He was Regional Chairman for the Conservative Party in Yorkshire from 2020 to 2023, supporting the response to the parliamentary boundaries review and in three Westminster by-elections (as well as countless local government by-elections). He was the Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Leeds North West in 2019.
Stewart worked in the Higher Education sector for most of his career, has been a School Governor and is now a non-executive director of a Multi Academy Trust. A major passion of Stewart's is education and its ability to transform lives. He set up his own business in 2019 and now works in education, the NHS and in the private sector – with expertise in governance and compliance.
In his spare time he is a sports fan and enjoys watching his son playing sport of any kind. He also enjoys reading when he has the time!
Any queries? Please contact national.convention@conservatives.com.
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