80% WANT MAY TO STEP DOWN
Tory supporters unhappy with her approach to the Brexit issue
LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May’s hopes of continuing as Prime Minister have been dealt a bow after a survey of Conservative supporters found 8 in 10 think she should quit before the next general election.
A poll of readers of the Conservative Home website found that more than a third (35 per cent) think the prime minister thought should resign immediately, while a further 45 per cent said she must step aside before 2022, when the next election is due. Just 19 per cent of respondents said May should not resign at all.
The poll will come as blow to the prime minister on the eve of the Conservatives’ annual conference in Birmingham. Although it found Tory supporters were increasingly willing to give May more time, with the number saying she resign immediately having fallen by 5 per cent since last month (down from 40 per cent), the number wanting her gone before the next election is up 6 per cent (from 39 per cent).
The prime minister has come under mounting pressure over Brexit plan, which is deeply unpopular with many and party members.
She is expected to use the party conference to convince her party to back the Chequers plan, which she insists is the only option to a no-deal Brexit.
A number of other senior Conservative MPS also hit out at May’s leadership as she prepares for a conference that could determine her fate as prime minister.
Former minister Robert Halfon said the Conservatives under her leadership were failing to provide “a proper Tory vision for the future.”
Writing for Conservativehome, he said: “We are stuck in the political rhetoric of the past, rather than providing a proper Tory vision for the future.”
“It’s why even with ‘the most left wing leader in the history of mankind etc,’ Corbyn’s Labour remains pretty high in the polls.”
“They are speaking to the problems faced by many. We too often speak only for the few.”
Sam Gyimah, a business minister, also voiced concerns, saying the Conservatives “have lost our way.”
Writing for The House magazine, he said: “We can’t out-corbyn Corbyn, and if we try we risk offering a pale imitation that leaves people yearning for the real thing.”
“When I look at how we on the centreright have reacted to the perceived failing of capitalism, I can’t help thinking we have lost our way,” he wrote.
Gymiah said his party was “confused ABOUT HOW TO HANDLE BUSINESS,” LIPLOPPING BETWEEN “TRUMPIAN ECONOMIC nationalism” and “the old playbook, implying that if we simply deregulate AND CUT TAXES, ALL WILL BE INE.”
Speaking to the same magazine, George Freeman, a former head of May’s policy unit, said the Tories risked becoming a “rump party of nostalgic nationalists.”
He said: “This is a 1975, 1945, 1905 moment: when the underlying rules of our system of political economy profoundly change.”
“A new generation of aspirational professional voters under 45 are rejecting the old model. Unless the Conservative party reconnects with them, we risk becoming a rump party of nostalgic nationalists.”
Cabinet ministers also voiced fears over the Tories’ prospects.
Liz Truss, chief secretary to the Treasury, admitted she had been impressed with Labour’s latest campaign video, which focused on “left behind” towns.
Speaking at the Reform Scotland think-tank, she said the broadcast was “very good” and “a serious threat” to the Tories, adding: “That video does capture the heart of where we need to be as a party. So we need to be talking about how people’s lives are getting better.”