Britain’s governing party is once again formally represented on campus with the founding of the new University of Sheffield Conservative Society.
Officially registered with the Students’ Union (SU) in late February, it marks the end of a period of over four years of absence, since the previous body, ‘the Conservative Party Association’ shut down in 2020.
The Society has now begun a membership and participation drive, launching their instagram account, alongside a new logo, on the 8th March.
They promise “exciting social and political events”, including pub trips, movie nights and talks with Conservative MPs.
Speaking to Forge Press, the group’s President, Leone Parkin, believes that “It is great for students interested in politics”
However, he believes the absence of a Conservative Society has been an issue for the institution: “How does a university with 30,000 students not have a society for people on the centre-right of politics?”
Parkin sees his new group as filling a void in student politics, saying: “It aims to be a welcoming community for those on the centre-right, interested in conservative politics.
“I believe we’ve reinstated that balance which makes politics so engaging and accessible; a university whose societies reflect the campus-wide diversity of opinion.”
The new body will hope not to go the way of their predecessor, which separated from the SU before the 2019 General Election and died a slow death during the Covid years.
It was also no stranger to controversy and in 2018, as reported by the Sheffield Tab, was embroiled in an election-fixing scandal, where several members of the society complained of “intimidation” during committee elections in an attempt to “delegitimise” some candidates and favour others.
Parkin makes clear that the new Tory group is altogether different, seeking to reassure prospective members that its leadership “takes this responsibility very seriously”.
Co-Chair of Sheffield’s Labour Society, Alex Pascoe, commented on the move, stating that Labour are now “glad to finally see more political competition on campus.”
Pascoe’s society states that they “hope that the Conservative Society will separate themselves from the current government” who, in Labour’s view, are using marginalised groups as “scapegoats for their failures” and have allowed the “majority of the population, including students, suffer during the cost of living crisis.”
Sheffield’s Tories have set their prices at £3 for the semester and £15 for a 3-year, degree-length membership.