About half of the Muslim population of Britain is located in Greater London. Given that Parliament is also in London, it is understandable that most CMF activity takes place in London.
However the Conservative Party is a national party and Muslims live throughout Britain. Accordingly it is important for the CMF to have an active presence in all parts of the country by having branches. While we already have several formal branches, we would like to have more, and this page gives guidance on how to go about setting up a branch.
Minimum size of a CMF branch
The most important thing for any successful organisation is having a critical mass of people who are passionate about it and willing to put in the effort required to make it succeed. In our view unless there are at least five people who are willing to regard the CMF branch as a key priority that they wish to make succeed, it will not be practical.
Having a greater number of active people is of course good, but with less than five we believe that the burden on a few individuals will become excessive.
Geographical coverage
Branches should aim for a natural region in terms of travel and identity. It should be large enough to get a critical mass of people, while small enough for sensible travel.
The CMF Executive will arbitrate any boundary disputes!
Who can be a Branch Member?
As you know, all CMF members have to be fully paid up Conservative Party members in possession of a Party membership card. The same applies to Branch members, and all branch members will automatically become members of CMF nationally.
Branch joining forms should state this and contain appropriate Data Protection Act statements. Please send draft joining forms to Shaheen Mahmood so that she can have them approved for compliance with the Party’s requirements.
Branch administrators must supply full lists of members and their email addresses to CMF nationally.
Branch Constitution and Branch Committee
Each branch is required to adopt a constitution based upon a model supplied by the National CMF and to have a Branch Committee. It is available as a PDF version and a Word version. The Chairman of the Branch should provide the CMF Administrator with the full name, postal address, email address and mobile phone number of each office bearer in the Branch, normally the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.
Purpose of CMF Branches
The purpose of CMF branches is to achieve at a local level the objectives of the CMF as set out in the CMF constitution as listed at this link.
While there are nine objectives, they can be summarised as encouraging British Muslims to play their full part in the political life of our country, and in particular to support the Conservative Party, join the Conservative Party and stand as Conservative Party candidates.
Branch activities
All Branch activities should be open to all CMF members residing in the territory of the Branch. All planned events should be notified to the CMF Administrator with sufficient information for her to circulate the event invitation to CMF members.
Each branch should hold at least two events per year.
Integration with local Party machinery
The CMF is an integral part of the Conservative Party nationally. In the same way, the Branch leadership should encourage members to integrate into the local Party machinery in their constituency associations, support local campaigning and local fundraising events and to stand for local Party roles.