If you Google ‘How do I join’, the first thing to come up is ‘How do I join the Reform party’. At the time of writing, the Reform UK party boasts 185,496 members: more than the older and more established party which forms one half of the UK’s two-party system, the Conservative Party. While Labour remains the party with the most members, Reform’s electoral success among young people in 2024 cannot be ignored. Farage himself has commented on the youth of his party’s membership, raising questions on the future survival of the two-party system. Looking at Cambridge, I ask if the Labour and Conservative clubs are equipped to deal with and have responded to the rise in protest politics presented by parties like Reform. Is student politics still fit for purpose?

As an executive member of Cambridge University Labour Club (CULC), the country’s oldest and largest university Labour club, I would argue that party politics continues to thrive, and the space for left wing student politics is wide. Pints and policy, CULC’s cornerstone Friday night event mixing booze and debate, is consistently packed with nearly a hundred turning up regularly, discussing issues from nuclear war to the London-centrism of Labour. Debates are wide ranging, with officers such as the LGBTQ+ officer and women and non-binary officer there to encourage speakers of all backgrounds. In my opinion, the result is a lively, challenging, but respectful debate.

Responding to concerns over increasing youth in right wing politics, Ben Cartwright, co-chair, told me that other student parties are isolated in the student scene. He argued that students are broadly left wing, and that CUCA existed as an isolated space for controversial, provocative tendencies. When I questioned him over the threat from issue-based politics, Cartwright responded that Labour party membership of course comes hand in hand with activism and other issues but it is not exclusive, and CULC really is a space for accessing those wider issues. Overall, my somewhat biased assessment of the Cambridge Labour Club was positive: membership is high, debate is productive, and the student body seems broadly left wing here in Cambridge.

“In my opinion, the result is a lively, challenging, but respectful debate”

To fully understand student-led right wing party politics, I decided to embark on the harrowing experience of attending port and policy, Cambridge University Conservative Association’s (CUCA) social event. As a passionate member of the Labour club, I was under no impression that the event would become a new favourite in my calendar, nor that I would be able to remain fully unbiased. However, I went with an open mind, not sure what to expect. This flew out the window as my mouth dropped in horror at the level of offence a group of only thirty-ish individuals, predominantly men, could cause so quickly. I was met with off-colour jokes at a time of intense worldwide political division and fears around the rise of the far-right.

“It is clear that the students of this university remain interested and involved with party politics”

The final vote on the failure of multiculturalism sailed through, and the sterility and emptiness of the room stood in stark contrast to Labour’s lively pints and policy. While there is no Cambridge University Reform Club, it disturbingly became clear to me that space is still made within CUCA for inflammatory and reactionary sentiments hidden behind the guise of ‘political debate’. CUCA, mirroring the national Conservative Party, is drifting further right to bridge the gap created by the emergence of Reform UK. Never one to refuse a drink, even I felt the need to decline the port offered to me by one of many men in a shirt and chinos, deciding that to sip their port was to accept views of the embarrassingly sparse room of individuals so terribly concerned with immigration into the UK.

It is clear that the students of this university remain interested and involved with party politics. Cambridge University’s Labour Club doesn’t seem overly threatened by the emergence of right wing protest politics nationally, with a committed body of student members and a predominantly left wing student population. Cambridge University’s Conservative Association has responded very differently. Key debates about immigration are stoked at their socials, encouraging offensive responses alongside intolerant rhetoric and calls for a return to ‘British values’, whatever those might be. The club seems to have shifted further right to absorb Reform party sentiment, reflecting the shift of the Conservative Party nationally, and to dissipate challenges from their opposition. I hope, for the sake of our student body, this goes no further.

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