Conservative Party conference poster
© AFP/File Carl De SouzaBLACKPOOL, England (AFP) - The youth wing is in rude health, despite the party's wider wrangling with its old-fashioned, out of touch image at its annual conference in Blackpool, northwest England, where old men nodding off are a common sight.
Interest by the young in the party is rising, mirroring developments overseas.
In some American universities, it has become trendy to participate in the right-wing Republican Party of President George W. Bush, rather than the more socially liberal Democratic Party.
Conservative Future (CF) has 15,000 paid-up members, about the same as the youth groups of Britain's Labour and the left-leaning smaller opposition Liberal Democrats together.
More are joining as Labour's eight-year grip on power continues.
"It's always cool to rebel against the incumbent government," said Simon Jones, 30, CF's honorary vice-president.
He reckons the party draws youngsters in as its values match those of Britain's youth.
"They don't want people interfering in their lives, yet they want a safety blanket should they fall," he told AFP at the Conservative Party conference in the gaudy seaside resort of Blackpool.
The party's youth movement had a notorious "Tory Boy" image during the 1980s Conservative heyday under prime minister Margaret Thatcher, with a reputation for loud dress sense, trenchant right-wing views and serious hard drinking.
They heartily cheered in 1983 when British comedian Kenny Everett told their conference: "Let's bomb Russia!"
And the former Federation of Conservative Students was wound up due to its right-wing loudmouth tendencies.
"I think we've gone beyond that," Jones said. "When we formed Conservative Future eight years ago, many of the newspapers started to say we are quite young and trendy."
Student Martyn Strong, 21, a CF branch chairman in Norfolk, eastern England said: "It is cool, to be honest. It's a fantastic laugh.
"It's more rebellious to be a Conservative: Marxists and Communists are such a student cliche," he told AFP at a boozy conference bash.
Conservative county councillor Ian Mackie, 28, added: "It's more a social movement than 100 percent politics.
"It was often seen as a large dating agency."
Gone are the "old-fashioned black-tie events", Jones said. Young Conservatives breakfast with the party leaders to give them a taste for the top, and have a range of parties and bashes to keep them amused.
"The comradeship is phenomenal," Jones said.
"It's amazing, you could be anywhere and suddenly bump into a someone you had a beer with at a party and get chatting like old friends."
There is still time for some old-style rowing with left-wing adversaries -- good natured, of course.
"The perception that everyone has a bit of a bunfight is not very true. We'd all go out and have a laugh afterwards. It's not a Punch and Judy show."
And there is still time for plenty of serious drinking with the party's bigwigs, given the packed parties going on into the night in Blackpool.
The Conservatives have been meeting all week to find a new formula for reviving their fortunes after British Prime Minister Tony Blair's left-of-centre Labour Party beat them in May for the third consecutive time.
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