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Independent Conservative is a description which has been used in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
, Canada,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
and elsewhere, to denote a political
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
who lacks a formal affiliation to the party of that name.


In the United Kingdom

As a description for use on the
ballot paper A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...
, until 1999 anyone could stand at any
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
election as an Independent Conservative, but since the
Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 The Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 (c. 48), is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision to set up a register of political parties in the United Kingdom. Previously there had been no such register, and ...
came into force, a candidate who is not officially certified by the Conservative Party must either stand for another registered
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or po ...
or as an
Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
. However, the term is still used to designate a
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who either has left the Conservative Party or never joined it, so is independent of it, but who nevertheless identifies as a conservative.
Lord Robert Cecil Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, (14 September 1864 – 24 November 1958), known as Lord Robert Cecil from 1868 to 1923,As the younger son of a Marquess, Cecil held the courtesy title of "Lord". However, he ...
was an Independent Conservative in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
between 1911 and 1923, after he won the 1911 by-election for
Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding 300 ...
, Hertfordshire. At the 1945 general election, John Mackie and Daniel Lipson were both elected to the Commons as Independent Conservatives. Andrew Hunter was elected as a Conservative MP in 2001; he left the party when selected in 2002 as a candidate for the
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, and National conservatism, national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, ...
in the
2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 26 November 2003, after being suspended for just over a year. It was the second election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. Each of Northern Irela ...
. Hunter sat as an Independent Conservative MP until joining the DUP Westminster parliamentary party in 2004. Lord Stevens of Ludgate sat in the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...
as an Independent Conservative between 2004 and 2012.
Derek Conway Derek Leslie Conway TD (born 15 February 1953) is an English politician and television presenter. A member of the Conservative Party, Conway served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1983 to 1997, ...
sat as an Independent Conservative after he lost the whip in 2008, and did not contest the 2010 general election.
Nadine Dorries Nadine Vanessa Dorries (''née'' Bargery, 21 May 1957) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A member of the Conservative Party, sh ...
was suspended from the Conservative Party after taking part in the television competition ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' in November 2012, before regaining the Conservative whip in May 2013. On 25 October 2016,
Zac Goldsmith Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park, (born 20 January 1975) is a British politician, life peer and journalist serving as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment si ...
resigned from the House of Commons over the planned expansion of
Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...
, triggering a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
, which Goldsmith contested as an Independent, but without opposition from the Conservative Party. He was described as an Independent Conservative. In April 2019,
Nick Boles Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (born 2 November 1965) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Grantham and Stamford from 2010 to 2019. He was a member of the Conservative Party until 2019. Before entering Parliamen ...
quit the Conservatives to sit as what he called an "Independent Progressive Conservative". In September 2019,
Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fir ...
quit the Conservatives over the disagreement that has been engaged in by their former 21 MP colleagues on the subject of
Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
, under
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as Fo ...
leadership. She decided not to seek re-election at the 2019 general election after initially planning to run as an Independent Conservative.


In Canada

Independent Conservative members of parliament have also sat in the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons i ...
, with a similar designation. In the 19th century, prior to the solidification of the party system, it was common in Canada for Independent Conservative and Independent Liberal members to be elected, sometimes defeating official Conservative or Liberal candidates. Joseph Sasseville Roy was elected as an Independent Conservative at the 1940 federal election. He had declined to run as an official Conservative, due to his disagreement with the party's policy on
conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
, which was unpopular in Quebec. Henri Courtemanche was elected as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" in Labelle in
1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...
and subsequently rejoined the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
. Maurice Allard was elected to the Commons as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" in
Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional coun ...
at the 1965 federal election, defeating the official Progressive Conservative candidate. A former Progressive Conservative politician, Allard had quit the party in 1963 due to his opposition to its leader,
John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
. Since then, it has been more usual for Independent Conservatives at the national level to be Conservatives who have voluntarily resigned the party whip or who have been expelled from the party. Bill Casey sat in the House of Commons as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" after he was expelled from the
Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...
caucus for stating that the Conservative government's 2007 budget had violated the Atlantic Accord. Casey was re-elected at the federal election of 2008 with almost 70 per cent of the vote.The Green Party of Canada Salutes Bill Casey and Wishes Him Well in His New Role
dated 1 May 2009 at greenparty.ca, accessed 2 December 2012 Patrick Brazeau is a current Independent Conservative Senator, but he has been expelled from sitting in the Senate due his arrest for assault.
Pamela Wallin Pamela Wallin (born April 10, 1953) is a Canadian senator, former television journalist, and diplomat. She was appointed to the senate on January 2, 2009, where she initially sat as a Conservative. Early life and career Wallin was born in W ...
is a current Independent Conservative Senator, who was removed from caucus due to spending scandal. In 2013,
Brent Rathgeber Brent M. Rathgeber (born July 24, 1964) is a lawyer, author and politician from Alberta, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2001 to 2004 and was elected to the House of Commons of Canad ...
became an Independent Conservative MP for St. Albert - Edmonton after leaving the Conservative Party caucus, citing that the Prime Minister's Office had authoritarian-type power of the government. He was the member of Parliament up until the 2015 federal election, which he lost to Conservative candidate
Michael Cooper Michael Jerome Cooper (born April 15, 1956) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the boys varsity coach at Culver City High School. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winnin ...
.


See also

*
Independent Liberal Independent Liberal is a description allowed in politics to denote party affiliation. It is used to designate a politician as a liberal, yet independent of the official Liberal Party of a country. Those parties were the Liberal Party of Canada, ...
* Independent Republican *
Independent Unionist Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for Unionism in the United Kingdom, British unionism (not to be confused with trade unionism). It is most popularly asso ...
*
Miscellaneous right Miscellaneous right (', ''DVD'') in France refers to right-wing candidates who are not members of any large party. This can include members of small right-wing parties, dissidents expelled from their party for running against their party's candida ...


References

{{Reflist Political terminology Conservatism in the United Kingdom Conservatism in Canada Independent politicians in the United Kingdom *