The chairman of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is responsible for party administration and overseeing the Conservative Campaign Headquarters, formerly Conservative Central Office.
When the Conservatives are in government, the officeholder is usually a member of the Cabinet holding a sinecure position such as Minister without Portfolio. Deputy or Vice Chairmen of the Conservative Party may also be appointed, with responsibility for specific aspects of the party.
Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (/təˈriːzə/; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead from 1997 to 2024, and has been a member of the House of Lords since August 2024. May was the second female British prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, and the first woman to have held two of the Great Offices of State. May is a one-nation conservative.
May grew up in Oxfordshire and attended St Hugh's College, Oxford. After graduating in 1977, she worked at the Bank of England and the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She also served as a councillor on Merton London Borough Council. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she was elected MP for Maidenhead at the 1997 general election. From 1999 to 2010, May held several roles in shadow cabinets and was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003. Following the formation of the coalition government after the 2010 general election, May was appointed home secretary and minister for women and equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012. Reappointed after the Conservatives won the 2015 general election, she became the longest-serving home secretary in more than 60 years. During her tenure as home secretary, she pursued reform of the Police Federation, implemented a harder line on drugs policy and further restricted immigration. She oversaw the introduction of elected police and crime commissioners, the deportation of Abu Qatada and the creation of the College of Policing and the National Crime Agency. Although she supported the Remain campaign, May supported Brexit following the outcome of the 2016 referendum. She was elected and appointed prime minister unopposed, succeeding David Cameron.
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes (Chinese: 彭定康; born 12 May 1944), is a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, and the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. He was made a life peer in 2005 and served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 2003 to 2024. He is one of two living former governors of Hong Kong, alongside David Wilson.
Patten was born in Thornton-Cleveleys in Lancashire and subsequently raised in west London. He studied history at Balliol College, Oxford, and, after graduating in 1965, he began working for the Conservative Party.
Sir Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served as secretary of state for defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps previously served in various cabinet posts, including Conservative Party co-chairman, transport secretary, home secretary, business secretary, and energy secretary under prime ministers David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the member of parliament (MP) for Welwyn Hatfield from 2005 to 2024. He was defeated and lost his seat in the 2024 general election.
Shapps was first promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as shadow minister for housing and planning in 2007. Following David Cameron's appointment as prime minister in 2010, Shapps was appointed minister of state for housing and local government. In the 2012 cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to the Cabinet as co-chairman of the Conservative Party and minister without portfolio. In May 2015, he was demoted from the Cabinet, becoming minister of state for international development. In November 2015, he stood down from this post due to his handling of allegations of bullying within the Conservative Party.
In the United Kingdom, a minister without portfolio is often a cabinet position, or often attends cabinet. The role is sometimes used to enable the chairman of the governing party, contemporarily either the chairman of the Conservative Party or the chair of the Labour Party, to attend cabinet meetings. (If so, they hold the title of "Party chairman".) The sinecure positions of Lord Privy Seal, Paymaster General, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which have few responsibilities and have a higher rank in the order of precedence than minister without portfolio can also be used to similar effect. Anna Turley was appointed as minister without portfolio, replacing Ellie Reeves, in the 2025 British cabinet reshuffle.
The corresponding shadow minister is the Shadow Minister without Portfolio.
Sir Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Somerset, formerly Woodspring, from 1992 to 2024.
Fox studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and worked as a GP and civilian army medical GP before being elected as an MP. After holding several ministerial roles under John Major, Fox served as Constitutional Affairs Spokesman from 1998 to 1999, Shadow Health Secretary from 1999 to 2003, Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2003 to 2005, Shadow Foreign Secretary in 2005 and Shadow Defence Secretary from 2005 to 2010.