Henry Collingridge at the 1991 Conservative Party Conference
The Conservative Party Conference (CPC) is a four-day national conference event held by the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It takes place every year around October during the British party conference season, when the House of Commons is in recess. The event's location has alternated between Birmingham's International Convention Centre (ICC) and Manchester's Central Convention Complex since 2008.
Previously, it had alternated between Blackpool and Bournemouth. In contrast to the Liberal Democrat Conference, where every party member attending its Conference, either in-person or online, has the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system, or the Labour Party Conference, where 50% of votes are allocated to affiliated organisations (such as trade unions), and in which all voting is restricted to nominated representatives (known as delegates), the Conservative Party Conference does not hold votes on party policy.
The Conference, which consists of fringe events, receptions, and speeches, gives Conservative Party members, the press, and the public a chance to learn about the party's ideas and policies for the year ahead. The focal event is the leader's speech, which is given by the incumbent Leader of the Conservative Party at the end of conference. In some special circumstances, the leader will make a speech at the opening of conference.