party office which is unlikely to be vacant in the aftermath of a general election. Errors in the party's membership lists could lead to individual members being disenfranchised. Structural Many criticised the system as having been devised to try to answer those who believed that a leader should have the backing of the bulk of MPs, to answer demands for ordinary party members to have a say, and to allow for the removal of a failing leader, with it possible for a candidate to reach the final two with the support of barely a third of MPs in the final ballot (or even less if the rival candidate has overwhelming support in the Parliamentary Party) and then be elected leader by the party members; conversely, an incumbent leader is perpetually vulnerable to being removed by the MPs. Additionally, some argued that the party membership was unrepresentative of the electorate at large and thus prone to elect a leader reflecting only their views rather than those of the country at large. Proposals to change the leadership election process Initial proposals for electing a new leader Following the Conservative Party's defeat at the 2005 general election, in a speech on 6 May 2005, Howard announced his intention to resign as leader of the Conservative Party. However, he indicated that before he stood down, he wanted to oversee changes to the party’s process of electing a new leader. These new proposals were set out in principle in the Conservative Party document, A 21st Century Party: To be validly nominated, candidates would require the support of 10 per cent of Conservative MPs. If one candidate was nominated by over half of the Parliamentary Party, they would automatically be declared leader. If no candidate was nominated by over half of the Parliamentary Party, each candidate would address and answer questions from the National Convention. The Convention would then vote, with the result of this election being published. The MPs would then make the final choice, with it being for the 1922 Committee to determine how they would do this under the condition that the candidate who received the most votes from the National Convention would be guaranteed a place in each ballot, including the final ballot. Candidates would be allowed to spend up to £25,000 from the opening of nominations, with the Party Treasurer responsible for raising this money for each candidate, and any money