The former Conservative treasurer Peter Cruddas, a key ally of Boris Johnson, is set to launch a Momentum-style grassroots campaign to overhaul party democracy. The movement – Conservative Democratic Organisation – will have Lord Cruddas as president and aims to give members full say over candidate selections “with minimum interference by CCHQ [Conservative campaign headquarters]”, including the power to deselect MPs. The move has been endorsed by the former home secretary Priti Patel, who is also close to the former prime minister. Its vice-president is Stephen Greenhalgh, a former deputy mayor and minister in the Lords under Johnson. Another key Johnson backer, David Campbell Bannerman, a former MEP, will be its chair. Both Cruddas and Campbell Bannerman ran the campaign and petition to put Johnson on the ballot paper for the summer Tory leadership contest, which attracted grassroots support but was unsuccessful. In the announcement of the group’s formation on the Conservative Post website, it said “many of us are fed up with having leftwing candidates and a leftwing agenda imposed on us from above – we are in the Conservative party, not Labour, for a reason”. The CDO proposes a radical overhaul of party conferences, the role of CCHQ, party chairs and the selection and removal of MPs – strikingly similar aims to those of the campaigning group Momentum that emerged under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party Efforts to strengthen Conservative party democracy have been mostly rebuffed by senior Tory politicians, though there has been a growing frustration in the grassroots compounded by the removal of Liz Truss as prime minister after she was backed by members, replaced by Rishi Sunak without a members’ vote. The group will demand senior figures in the party, including party chairman and the chair of its policy forum should be democratically elected. It will also demand constituency associations should have the right “to select, and if necessary, deselect their MP”. It said: “Reforming candidate selections to put associations back in charge would reduce or eliminate the current dangerously unstable gulf between members’ views and those of their MP representatives, such as the variance over Brexit, and low taxes.” The group proposes reducing the role of CCHQ to grading candidates on their ability and core beliefs. “The centralising and controlling direction of Central Office would be ended; which has led to many MPs being selected who are not genuine Conservatives, do not have the necessary skills or commitment, and have insufficient loyalty to the party,” the group said. “This has manifested itself in the appalling behaviour of some current Conservative MPs, and previous ones who were stripped of the whip, and who are the root cause of political instability at present.” Another key proposal will be changing the voting system for party leaders, including setting a threshold of 15% of MPs in order to stand as a candidate. It will also campaign for a bigger role for party conferences “with the membership back in control” and to allow member debates after ministerial speeches – similar to how Labour and Lib Dem conferences are run. This year’s Conservative conference had just two hour slots of speeches, with no debate or contribution from members. In a statement endorsing the campaign, which is expected to hold a conference later this year, Patel said: “Our grassroots are the heart and soul of our party. They are our greatest assets and advocates and they should never be taken for granted. “Party members are committed to our values of freedom, enterprise and opportunity and we need to empower them to have more say over our policies and candidates. That will make us stronger, more successful in government, and boost our membership numbers.”