Conservatives Abroad is the British Conservative Party's global network of members and supporters living overseas. Conservatives Abroad has members and groups around the world, including

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, and

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. While some countries have just one Conservatives Abroad group, some countries are represented by a number of different groups based in different areas, particularly when a country is large and Conservative overseas Britons are spread out such as Australia, France, Spain, and the USA.

History

While some overseas Conservative groups had been active since the 1970s, Conservatives Abroad was not formally created until 1985. Its purpose is to keep Conservative supporters who are temporarily or permanently living abroad in touch with domestic politics in the United Kingdom, to campaign for the votes of the overseas British community, and increase the number of overseas registered voters in those communities. Sir James Spicer MP was appointed as its first Chairman. Conservatives Abroad also serves its members' interests by raising issues and concerns facing Britons living overseas with politicians, and by lobbying to reform overseas voting laws. While the

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a politica ...

is usually president of Conservatives Abroad, the individual local groups are represented and governed by a group representative.

Campaigns

Conservatives Abroad have led the 'Votes for Life' campaign to allow British citizens living around the world to maintain their right to vote in British General Elections and reverse restrictions brought in by the Labour Government in 2000. As a result, this became a commitment in successive Conservative Party manifestos but its progress was blocked by the Liberal Democrats during the 2010-2015 Coalition Government. Finally, after the 2019 General Election, the measure was able to pass Parliament as part of the Elections Act 2022, thus re-enfranchising an estimated 3.4 million potential voters.

Worldwide groups

Conservatives Abroad operate a global network of local groups. Originally it operated 35 active groups operating in 21 countries around the world, however, this figure has since grown.

Countries and territories

References

External links

* {{UK Conservative Party Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK) Supraorganizations Political organizations established in 1986