Forum Topic

The future of the Conservative party

The former ‘natural party of government’ seems to be facing an unprecedentedly poor result in the general election, which is just two weeks away.  Some are even talking of the possibility of extinction.  How and why has this happened and what will the Tories have to do to recover?

Alastair Banton ● 249d55 Comments

"treading very carefully at the moment."which equals austerity!!

Steve Taylor ● 229d

Ha Steve, hope not, they are treading very carefully at the moment.

Janice Evans ● 229d

Downhill??

Steve Taylor ● 229d

Proving that the PM lied to parliament is not petty interference.

Stewart Jones ● 229d

I'm not naming people.

Janice Evans ● 230d

Hi Janice, thanks for taking the time to reply.It will be interesting to see how things are going once the 100 day honeymoon period is over.

Andrew Jones ● 230d

Im just going to say Birthday Cake to that.

Janice Evans ● 230d

No Steve, how unstable parts of the world are.

Janice Evans ● 230d

Petty interference? We had fourteen years of Tory rule which in the last few years descended into lies, corruption, cronyism and gaslighting.They did it to themselves.  No idea what you mean by Petty interference.  Please give an example.

Stewart Jones ● 230d

Petty interference? We had fourteen years of Tory rule which in the last few years descended into lies, corruption, cronyism and gaslighting.They did it to themselves.  No idea what you mean by Petty interference.  Please give an example.

Stewart Jones ● 230d

When you say “if world issues improve” are you saying if the western world, especially Europe and the USA, continue to move rapidly to the right?

Steve Taylor ● 230d

O.K.  There was too much petty interference with the Conservatives instead of leaving them to get on with the job as others never wanted themto succeed which I don't agree with, any sensible person wants theirGovernment to succeed whichever party it is.  I partly agree with her andthink Reform may take the place of Conservatives if world issues improve, the others will need very strong leaders to compete.

Janice Evans ● 230d

Okay, what Ms Greening is saying is neatly summarised in her last sentence -‘Success comes from being in the mainstream of British politics, being competent and having a clear purpose. The Conservatives have been none of the above for some time. Its choice is simple now: do or die.’She contrasts the party with the Greens, LibDems and Reform who, love em or hate em, each do each have a clear purpose.  So she’s saying that unless the Tories do regain their own clear purpose they are doomed.  So, do people agree with her assessment?  And what might their future purpose be?

Alastair Banton ● 230d

It's  similar to a successful business in lots of ways, if they keep the staff happy it's  more productive, it's the same with the population keep them all happy as they will make or break you.

Janice Evans ● 230d

A number of reasons Andrew, I didn't agree with some of the decisionsthey made recently and knew it would deminish their supporters alsothey were just not getting the mood of the population but on world issuesI did agree with them and yes I voted Conservative because trust them more on that, I just wasn't too bothered about them not getting in becausethink Keir will equal them on that and hoping he will be the right leader to avoid conflict but continue with defence funding, that was my main concern this time.

Janice Evans ● 230d

I presume you voted in 2019 Janice - and you strike me as likely to be someone who tends to vote conservative, so probably voted conservative in 2019.Why do you think you feel the way you do? Disenchantment with the previous government? The fact that maybe you thought your vote wouldn't have made any difference? Something else?I'm genuinely interested, but feel free to say I'd prefer to keep my reasons to myself, if you don't feel like answering.

Andrew Jones ● 230d

To be completely honest if I hadn't had a postal vote just wouldn't have bothered to vote.

Janice Evans ● 230d

I wonder what local Tories think about this proposal from Justine Greening?https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/08/leaderless-purposeless-tories-extinction-government?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Alastair Banton ● 230d

I do think Farage has a good idea of what people want and how to helpbecause he gets out there and finds out he has great knowledge of thegeneral public he is much better at that.

Janice Evans ● 247d

The timing was wrong for National Service to be mentioned it had notbeen explained in full detail,  Farage might do more for defence but I don't know or it's not completely clear where the funding would come from,I know Rishi has lost but I have to put my vote where I trust defence funding would continue, Rishi knows his sums 😉

Janice Evans ● 247d

He said other things some time ago as well Andrew.

Janice Evans ● 247d

My understanding is that Farage has pledged more investment into Defence than either Labour or the Conservatives. The Conservatives want to invest in youth mental health issues  by having National Service which would be a great motivator and keep youths off the streets and get their brains functioning. That’s good investment. National Service works well across Europe and Scandinavia and the youth embrace it and  develop important skills to prepare them for their futures. The Lib Dims think that the answer is to continue to allow ‘mental health’ issues to plague the youth by throwing money at schools to employ fully qualified psychologists in all primary and secondary schools.No thought from the Lib Dem’s on how to tackle the so called mental health issues by getting the self obsessed I,I,I, me, me, brigade off social media  for an hour or two to do some volunteer work or litter picking or helping within the community. Nope, let them fester in their self obsession and then spend valuable ‘education’ time talking to an overpaid psychologist. And of course the wishy washy Lib Dims make no mention of where they will find professional psychologists to fill every single post in every school in the UK. I am wondering if they will also place them in every private school because I would think most Lib Dims send their kids to private schools!

Steve Taylor ● 247d

I presumed you were saying that you wouldn’t consider voting for Nigel Farage’s  party given that Nigel recently reaffirmed his contention that the West provoked Putin into attacking Ukraine.

Andrew Jones ● 247d

You should re think who I am referring to regarding Ukraine.

Janice Evans ● 248d

no one knows, we will find out if he gets in.

Janice Evans ● 248d

Very strong on the flip flops 🩴🩴

Russell Pearson ● 248d

Agreed Susan

Helen Bamberger ● 248d

Starmer is not a weak leader.

Susan Kelly ● 248d

I agree that there likely won't be negotiations on rejoining the EU for years however with a Labour government, I think there absolutely will be engagement on strengthening UK - EU relationships with other agreements.  Commentator view is that the Tory hardliners will suffer most from electoral defeats so the parliamentary Conservative party may end up more moderate than it is at the moment.  How that gets squared with an elderly, reactionary, Faragist membership remains to be seen.

Michael Robinson ● 248d

First thank you to Michael Robinson for his brilliant first post on this thread, it made me chuckle a lot.The Tory party has a history of being very good at getting back into power.  Here it has a real divide.  The centrists in the Tory party, and Sunak is one of them, are losing their hold of the party as Reform attacks them from the right.  The problem comes back to EU/Brexit.  It has been a philosophical chasm in the Tories for most of the last 30 years.  This may be the time when the Tory party breaks apart, anti-EU/pro-Brexit moving to the Reform party and the pro-EU/anti-Brexit party remaining. Personally, I think the Tories will fudge the issue of EU/Brexit on the basis that it is obvious, at least to them, that there will be no new negotiations with the EU for at least a decade.  With the lack of any viable alternative candidate from the centre of the party (and the candidates from the right are even less viable) Sunak might even lead the party for another 3-4 years.What will help the Tories is that the election is going to be such a disaster that a complete rethink will be a fundamental requirement

Justin Stephenson ● 248d

My vote is for Ukraine.

Janice Evans ● 248d

"...many hundreds of Labour MPs, most of them loyal to Starmer."The Corbynite left are keeping their heads down in the hope that Starmer will give them a majority. Once he has done, he will no longer be needed by them, and I very much doubt if he has much real personal loyalty among his candidates.

Richard Greenhough ● 248d

🤡. I have voted for others, and never voted at all for 10 years so you areboth as usual very wrong.  Just think Putin is waiting for us to have a weak leader.

Janice Evans ● 248d

We will have to wait and see what happens after the election but if Braverman or Farridge becomes Tory leader then it seems likely that a new centre right party would be formed. There could be dozens of former cabinet ministers and even Prime Ministers who might be expected to sign up and some of the handful of remaining MPs might jump ship. Most importantly, if it was put together sensibly, it would attract a large amount of corporate donations meaning it could outspend the Conservative party which faces huge financial challenges.This would provide a new home for our local councillors but, if this new party goes off half-cocked, then, perhaps some might consider switching to the Lib Dems but I think for most standing as an independent might be the only option.

Francis Rowe ● 248d

They always have been, Jim, that's why they are losing the election.

Claire Moran ● 248d

Yes that’s a vote searching for a reason. Although I find it hilarious that people still think Janice is real!

Paul Campbell ● 248d

And do what instead Francis? Go as independents? It doesn’t really matter for most of them as they are either too old, too damaged, too silly or already consigned to the failure bin but Jack Emsley has potential so what does he do? Nick Rogers quit because he couldn’t stand the Party any more. And we’re still waiting for Jack and Nick’s pedestrian crossing at the Hartington Road / A316 junction ….

Paul Campbell ● 248d

'they have my vote again' - was there ever any danger of them not?

Anne England ● 248d

The Carlton Club in St James's Street, London ... a longstanding beehive for Conservative members ... will be buzzing with conversations about their possible fate. They may be more concerned about their future ... rather than the UKs

Jim Lawes ● 248d

And then Nigel came along, that was on the cards for a long time.

Janice Evans ● 248d

The Conservatives did two things before that election that was sure tolose them votes, National Service and people unable to work, I knowthey won't win but they have my vote again, The Labour Party needs Claireat the helm as she seems to be able to think for herself.  Yes she had made mistakes but will have learned from them.

Janice Evans ● 248d

Starmer has proven time after time he has poor judgement and nothing he says can be believed - he reverses his opinion regularly. The scrutiny he will be under when he is Leader will spotlight this increasingly.  Labour will be appalling in government - just as the Tories have been.

Claire Moran ● 248d

At least two of your bogey men are dead!

David Burke ● 248d

The Conservative Party is a hostage to its method of picking a leader which puts all the power in the hands of 100,000 mainly reactionary geriatrics. This makes it inevitable that the party will pick a leader who will cater to their prejudices rather than the good of the country. Probably Braverman unless Farridge comes on board.The real question is what do people who joined a Conservative Party that was pro-business, pro-rule of law and of which the pre-eminent figures were generally people of high integrity do now? The current identity of the party has absolutely nothing to offer anything anybody who lives in Chiswick. Excellent as many of our local councillors are, they will not survive the stink of the current Conservative brand and they seriously need to consider disassociating themselves from it before the next local elections.

Francis Rowe ● 249d

It seems to me we should wait until after the election. The conservatives could end up in a similar situation as the Liberals. Also we don't know what else will emerge about Reform candidates.

Nicholas Beard ● 249d

In my view ...the behaviour of Borisand close buddies ...showed disrespect for the corridors of Whitehall,10 Downing Street and it's garden.Whilst he might have been a hoot whilst Mayor of London, and wandering up and down Hounslow High Street, there was a lack of integrity perhaps and more significently statesmanship.Mind you I don't want to see the likes again of Hugh Scanlon, Jack Jones and Arthur Scargill. (in the pay of the soviet union quite likely)What a mess we're in.

Jim Lawes ● 249d

'Conservative' policies via the Conservative Party were made obsolete a long time ago by the NWO with the help of infiltrators; but rest assured, Conservative policies are now available via the REFORM Party..

Michael Brown ● 249d

That's scarcely an answer to Alastair's questions, Richard. How has the Conservatives' desperation come about, and how can they reverse their fortunes? You seem to be suggesting there's nothing to be done except wait for Labour schisms. From what I've seen of Starmer he'll have the left-wing well under control. The Conservatives could be waiting a long time for Labour to fall apart.

Robert Fish ● 249d

And what is it you think McDonnell and Abbott are going to do? Two old people among many hundreds of Labour MPs, most of them loyal to Starmer. They are a busted flush.

Susan Kelly ● 249d

"Integrity, professionalism, accountability" Rishi Sunak 2022.

Paul Scullion ● 249d

After five years of Labour government, the Conservatives will sweep back into power as being the least-worst option, just as they were in 2019. I wonder how long Starmer will survive before his left-wing tries to oust him ? He may have got rid of Old Jeremiah for now, but the likes of John McDonnell and Diane Abbott are still there, keeping a low profile until the election is over.

Richard Greenhough ● 249d

Michael Robinson ● 249d

How many more candidates and members of Sunak's inner circle are going to get caught by the Gambling Commission? Illegal and immoral. Feathering their beds at its worse.

Paul Scullion ● 249d

"Boris Johnson’s ‘honest, unrestrained’ memoir to be published in OctoberThe former prime minister received a £510,000 advance for the memoir, covering his time in office as mayor of London and prime minister." Eve. Standard ."Honest and unrestrained" Really? Better late than never I guess.

Adrian Irving ● 249d

Michael Robinson ● 249d