3 out of 5 Tories ready to abandon Theresa for Brexit Party
Grassroots’ Euro polls revolt
THREE in five Tory members are set to vote for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in next month’s European elections, a shock poll has found.
In an indication of the size of the grassroots rebellion against Theresa May’s Brexit delay, a poll has found less than a quarter of Tory members are planning on voting Conservative.
The survey on the Conservative Home website found 62 per cent would be casting their vote for Nigel Farage’s new party.
It comes days after it emerged that Tory county councillors in Derbyshire were effectively going on strike by refusing to campaign for the European polls.
They said they would not take part in the elections because they ‘should not be happening’ – as the UK should have left the EU at the end of March. The open rebellion comes amid growing anger at Mrs May’s decision to delay Brexit until the end of October, and over her negotiations with Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. A poll in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday found that 40 per cent of Tory councillors plan to back Mr Farage’s party on May 23.
And another survey for Conservative Home suggested party members were even more likely to defect than its activists.
The poll found just 23 per cent of Tory members will vote Conservative next month, compared with 62 per cent who will cast their vote for the Brexit Party.
Four per cent say they will not vote at all and five per cent have not made up their mind. Another four per cent say they will vote for Change UK, the independent
group which supports a second referendum, while less than one
per cent will vote for Ukip.
Paul Goodman, editor of Conservative Home, said: ‘The result is the most astonishing we have ever published, and provokes the question: Can it possibly be right? ‘It is extraordinary that three out of five party members could say that they will vote for a different party altogether. But there are at least four reasons why it could be on the money. ‘First, sheer anger with the postponement of Brexit after it had been promised over 100 times for March 29, at Theresa May’s talks with Jeremy Corbyn, and at these elections being teed up in the first place. ‘Second, a sense that they provide an opportunity to protest – a free hit, rightly or wrongly.
‘Third and consequently, the belief that Nigel Farage provides a respectable pro-Brexit alternative. That he has a party to his right that he can denounce as extreme helps in this regard.
‘Fourth, that a really bad result might prove to be a trigger for leadership change.’
A Survation survey for the Mail on Sunday found Mrs May’s leadership is a problem for Tory councillors. Only about half said they were planning to vote Conservative at the European elections. That rose to 65 per cent if Boris Johnson were party leader.
Survation also found 43 per cent of Tory councillors believed May should resign now, with 33 per cent saying she should go after a Brexit deal has passed and only 21 per cent saying she should stay.
Referring to a decision by Derbyshire Conservatives not to campaign in the European elections, Mr Farage said: ‘The faithful servants of one of the oldest political parties in the world are on strike.
‘They refuse to go out and canvass, such is their anger – and, no doubt, sheer embarrassment – at the appalling mess created by our dishonest Prime Minister.’
It was reported yesterday that the leading Tory backbencher will warn Mrs May she will be ousted unless she agrees to go by the end of June. The PM survived a noconfidence vote in December and under party rules cannot be challenged until 12 months later.
But Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, will say he is considering changing the rules to allow a vote before then.
Amid all the turmoil, Mrs May found something to laugh about yesterday as she spoke to choristers after the Easter Sunday service at a church in her Maidenhead constituency. Mr Farage enjoyed a cuppa at a tearoom at Shoreham Aircraft Museum in Kent.