A Gwilym Gibbon Centre Working Paper. Work in progress. All rights reserved. Not to be cited or copied without prior reference to the authors. “Every Treasurer of the Party has Gone to the Lords, and I Hope I Don’t Set a Precedent by Being the First Who Doesn’t”: Conservative Party Treasurers and Peerages, 1986-2016 By Dr Seth Alexander Thévoz (
[email protected]) Preface Despite the central constitutional role of Conservative Party Treasurers in keeping the wheels of party political finance rolling, often doubling up as legislators, I have been surprised by the lack of even basic information about these individuals. Who are they? What do they do? Why do so many of them end up in the House of Lords? What sort of peers do they make? This paper seeks to start to address such basic yet fundamental questions. The paper represents the first draft of an evolving piece of work in this area, which I hope to refine and develop, and I would warmly welcome all comments and feedback. It is inevitable that any work like this, focusing on an area which has received surprisingly little scrutiny, will have its fair share of errors or omissions, all responsibility for which remains my own. If you have any comments, corrections or feedback, I would be delighted to hear from you. I would be particularly keen to hear from former (or indeed current) Treasurers of the Conservative Party, and those who have worked with them. A Gwilym Gibbon Centre Working Paper. Work in progress. All rights reserved. Not to be cited or copied without prior reference to the authors.