The Tory Party Chairman Richard Fuller has fired off a grovelling email to party members, promising to “listen” to their “frustrations” after the party’s wipeout at the polls. More of ‘we must recognise where we went wrong’…
The email dutifully lays out a plan for “member-focused feedback sessions” in the run-up to party conference. These sessions are a chance for members to air their grievances – and there’ll be plenty – so the party can begin the long slog to rebuild “trust with the public.” Sessions will include riveting discussions on how the party can make members feel “heard” and how to learn from their opponents. Members are reassured that if they can’t make the calls, they can accost the Chairman at conference instead…
Read the full email below:
YouGov has done some polling on Tory Party members’ views. It should make interesting reading for leadership contenders…
52% of members say that a merger with Nigel’s “real opposition” would improve Tory chances of winning at the next election. A lower 42% say they want to see it actually go ahead. Reflecting the rough split between the poacher and merger camps…
Support for moving to the centre sits at a low 34% as over half of members say the party should shift to the right. A hefty two-thirds say the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights. Leadership contenders need to come up with an answer to the Farage question, and quick…
Numbers of migrants applying for British visas, along with their families, have plummeted by over a third compared to last year, all thanks to the Tories cracking down on social care workers and students bringing relations over. In July last year, 143,000 hopefuls applied to live in the UK as skilled workers, but this July, that number has nosedived to 93,000. Not being able to bring the rest of family along to the UK has put many off from even bothering to apply. Starmer should be grateful to the Tories for this one…
The head of the Migration Advisory Committee has forecasted a drop in net migration by 200,000 this year due to these measures. Yet, Yvette Cooper has already taken the axe to the Tory proposal to hike the income threshold for bringing a foreign partner to the UK from £18,600 to £29,000—a policy that could have curbed the numbers even more so. ‘The plan was working’…
Rishi Sunak is to limp on as Leader of the Opposition until the Tories select their new one in November, an arduous and slightly humiliating task considering he led the Party into historic defeat. Still, he doesn’t seem to be struggling too much…
After his pity party at PMQs over two weeks ago, Sunak has gone into hiding, only making two public appearances since. One was at a local school in Yorkshire (very charitable) and the other…in a Beverly Hills Michelin Star restaurant. The Mirror managed to pap the Sunaks mustering up the strength to dine at the California hotspot this week as riots raged back in Britain. No shock there that Rishi jetted straight back to the States at the first opportunity. At least he doesn’t have to pretend to run along the Gold Coast on a Peleton anymore…
CCHQ have sent round a rather rose-tinted memo celebrating candidates’ “energy, effort and dedication” which put the party in “a strong position” following what most would agree was actually a Tory wipeout. Patting themselves on the back for the achievement of losing 251 seats…
The email, dripping with misplaced optimism, goes on to thank candidates for everything they did, asking them to record the “immense hard work” of their campaigns. Guido suspects most candidates would rather forget one of the worst election defeats in history…
Read the full email below:
After several weeks of inertia – during which the Labour government has been operating essentially unchecked – the Conservatives have finally sorted out their leadership election timetable. The new leader will be announced on November 2nd. That’s more than 100 days from now, with nominations closing next week, on 29th July…
Guido understands opinion was split on the Conservative Party Board – the organ that signs off a proposed timetable which is then ratified by the 1922 Committee Executive. The chief ‘go long’ argument is the idea of ‘testing’ each candidate thoroughly in the media – even though the main front runners are well known to Tory MPs and members. That only works if the media is properly interested…
Those who argued for a new leader to be in place at conference in October (rather than a month later) submitted that the party simply doesn’t have enough money to sustain the delay – and during the long interregnum, Labour would be able to get away with murder. With Sunak holding the fort until November, the Tories are facing 100 days of irrelevance…
What emerged from the smoke filled rooms is ‘a classic fudge’ according to one MP involved in the deliberations – a long-ish timetable which puts a new leader in place by the end of 2024 but not by conference. Oddly:
- The Conservatives will announce their leader just three days before the US election result – during which time the broadcast media will be dominated by coverage of the US election and Starmer’s reaction.
- There will be no Conservative leader in place at party conference so no leader’s speech – leaving Starmer a pretty free hit at Labour conference.
- The Commons will sit for a decent stretch of time before the leader is confirmed, meaning more limp Parliamentary moments from a hobbled Sunak and little direction to the Tories’ efforts at parliamentary opposition.
As one former Tory minister put it: ‘Did Keir Starmer write this’?
