Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) has been accused of “drinking up donations” from alumni by a former member.

CUCA alumnus Jack Drury replied to a fundraising email from the club which was sent to all former members speculating that the request for donations was “apparently because too much has been spent on booze…”

The fundraising email, sent by chairman Hugo Williams, asked alumni to purchase a photograph from the club’s centenary dinner to help CUCA “at a time of some financial distress (recent assets being all too liquid)”.

Drury, who ran to be president of the Students’ Union in 2017, said the fundraising email was “foolish in tone” and raised “serious concerns” about the association’s finances.

Focussing on Williams’s use of the word “liquid” Drury said: “If I am somehow misunderstanding Mr Williams’ use of ‘liquid’ then so will be others”.

Reminding the association that its role was to “challenge the wave of wokery running through the place”, Drury wrote that CUCA “does not endure by the Committee drinking up donations”.

The reminder was accompanied by a condemnation of the “unfathomably stupid” act of publishing minutes from the association’s Termly General Meeting (TGM) in which the now-chairman of the society, James Appiah III, said: “we are not constitutionally bound to democracy”.

Drury warned the CUCA committee against letting short-sightedness limit the association “again”, and concluded his email by saying: “Please publish the accounts for the academic year ’21-’22; set out the nature of the current ‘financial distress’; and set out what you would do with the donations you request.”

When asked to elaborate on his concerns, Drury told Varsity: “Money is an inevitable element of putting on an ambitious termcard. CUCA enjoys the support and confidence of alumni who care deeply about the Association and what it offers the university”.

In the end, it seems that Williams was able to persuade Drury that he had indeed misinterpreted the former chairman’s email.

Describing the suggestion that CUCA faced financial distress, Williams told Varsity: ”A large and flourishing society like CUCA has lots of costs before the beginning of every Michaelmas (to put on its popular freshers events and put down deposits on large venues for big events).

“At the same time, there is no revenue over the Long Vacation. I referred to this annual situation faced by many societies as a ‘time of some financial distress’. This was misinterpreted by Mr Drury, who was satisfied once I explained what I had meant.

“I have not seen detailed accounts since I was Chairman, but I have every confidence that the healthy balance of payments I left behind was well-managed by our Treasurer and subsequent committees. Any suggestion that I had concerns about particular financial difficulties is false.”

Specifically responding to the claim that CUCA’s committee had been “drinking up donations”, Williams said: “The allegation is totally false and arose from a misunderstanding of a poorly-timed attempt at levity. This was acknowledged by Mr Drury only hours after his complaint.

“During my time, CUCA raised no funds from alumni. At the event in question, which Mr Drury did not attend, no donations were requested or received. When I was Chairman, subsidised refreshments for members were funded by ticket sales and subscriptions.”

James Appiah, CUCA’s current chairman, also said that the association was financially sound and that Drury’s concerns stemmed from a misunderstanding.

CUCA's accounts could not be found on their website when Varsity went to press.