CWO Development

The next election may be in 2024 but the Conservative Party still need excellent candidates to stand, including:

• Police & Crime Commissioners   • Elected Mayors  • London Assembly , Welsh and Scottish Governments  • Councillors – both at local and County level  • MP

Online Training Courses are a carefully planned cycle to help you invest in yourself. Ask your Region to organise these for local teams if you have enough interest. 

• Getting started in Politics, starting to think about why you want to become more active, and to help you understand the journey and what different opportunities there are to gain experience.
• What is a political CV, (Part 1) Explore how you might write your first political CV. What should be considered, and what excluded. Skills versus experience, think about your personal journey into politics, and how much experience and understanding of the Party you honestly have
• Why am I a Conservative? A more in depth exploration about your intellectual journey and how it effects your political profile. Do you know your Disraeli from your Butskellism? Speaking Practice in this session helps you tell people what type of conservative you are.
• How to Give a speech: To help you work out your content and message, and how you present it so that people can hear what you have to say.
• Developing your Political CV, (Part 2) for those on the LISTING journey only: Content includes identifying weaknesses and strengths, honestly reviewing skills, thinking about your political story and how this builds into your profile. If you want to put your application in to get on the parliamentary list, or have been called to attend an interview, this over view course is for you.
• Our all day, In Person Stepping Forward courses in London offer more in depth support and training and include “Introduction to Processes” , for those wanting to find out more, and the “Advance Processes” for those who have been on the Introduction to Processes, or if you have an been invited to relist. Please check the events page regularly for dates

We aim to have a programme of affordable, professional workshops designed to help individuals with both their personal and political development.

Warning. We are aware of many private operators who can charge up to £1000 a day for very similar courses. Do not think you need to pay huge amounts in order to pass your PAB.

This is not necessary and the information, CV feedback etc that many other “private” courses offer is similar to that you get through Candidate Development at CCHQ and through the CWO. Many of our trainers give their time for free and we are a not for profit organisation.  We also work shoulder to shoulder with Women 2 Win who take on the individual support needed for our experienced women who are on the candidates list looking for winning seats.

Please register your interest by clicking the Interested in Public life bit in your own membership area on the website, however, please note that participation in CWO Development programmes is only available to members of the Conservative Party. We also welcome men! If you are not a member of the party then you can join here.

As an aspiring candidate, who has only more recently become involved in politics, I found the CWOD workshops hugely helpful. I attended three out of the four courses on offer and got a huge amount out of each training day. Not only were the workshops informative and extremely practical but they were also a great way to network and meet other future candidates.

It was quite terrifying doing the first round of mock selection questions but, after a few times, answering questions on every area of policy from the economy to the NHS health reforms on the spot it just showed that practice makes all the difference. I particularly valued the media training with a mock radio interview and Question Time style panel. Other useful tips including information on compliance, filling out your application forms and how to fundraise for your campaign. Anyone who is even thinking about running as a Councillor, MP or even a senior Voluntary Party role, should attend one of the CWO’s excellent courses.