A party that ignores the wishes of its members and voters will wither and die.
The conservative government of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a tremendous blow on Thursday, losing two previously safe Conservative seats to the Labour opposition. But rather than Labour winning the seats, this was very much a case of the Conservatives losing them, with Conservative voters simply refusing to turn out to back the Conservative candidates.
For example, in the Tamworth by-election, caused by the resignation of the former MP, Labour's vote only increased from 10,908 to 11,719 at the by-election, with probably all of this slight increase coming from tactical voting by Lib-Dem supporters. In the Mid-Bedfordshire by-election, Labour actually took the seat with a decreased vote, scoring 13,872 votes, down from the 14,028 they got when the Conservatives soundly beat them at the general election.
What we are seeing here, therefore, is not a surge in support for Keir Starmer's Labour Party, but a severe drop in support for the Conservatives among normal Conservative voters.
This reflects the fact that Rishi Sunak is not the choice of the Party's grassroot supporters, having been "elected" leader by a small cabal of Tory MPS, after popularly elected leaders, like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, were effectively toppled by coups from their fellow Tory MPs.
In 2019, Boris Johnson was elected party leader after a full members' vote, winning 92,153 votes (or 66.4% of the total). Likewise in 2022 Liz Truss was elected leader after a members' vote, winning 81,326 votes (or 57.4%).
This reflects the fact that Rishi Sunak is not the choice of the Party's grassroot supporters, having been "elected" leader by a small cabal of Tory MPS, after popularly elected leaders, like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, were effectively toppled by coups from their fellow Tory MPs.
In 2019, Boris Johnson was elected party leader after a full members' vote, winning 92,153 votes (or 66.4% of the total). Likewise in 2022 Liz Truss was elected leader after a members' vote, winning 81,326 votes (or 57.4%).
The fact that these popularly elected leaders were then supplanted by Rishi Sunak, who became leader with the reluctant support of a couple of hundred Tory MPs, has left a bitter taste in the mouths of ordinary Conservative voters, who clearly resent having a woke, brown billionaire foisted on them as Party and national leader.
Despite his many skills and apparent good intentions, Sunak simply does not resonate with these people, not least because he was fast tracked and parachuted into the leadership by well-connected party insiders, rather than earning the post by his own efforts over a number of years.
The recent results reveal that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss supporters are now wreaking a terrible vengeance on the Conservative Party that betrayed them, by simply refusing to come out to vote for it.
At Tamworth the Tory vote dropped from 30,542 to 10,403, and at Mid-Bedfordshire from 38,692 to 12,680. It seems like Tory Party members and voters don't respond well to the party hierarchy smugly treating them like a bunch of disenfranchised Serfs.
The recent results reveal that Boris Johnson and Liz Truss supporters are now wreaking a terrible vengeance on the Conservative Party that betrayed them, by simply refusing to come out to vote for it.
At Tamworth the Tory vote dropped from 30,542 to 10,403, and at Mid-Bedfordshire from 38,692 to 12,680. It seems like Tory Party members and voters don't respond well to the party hierarchy smugly treating them like a bunch of disenfranchised Serfs.
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
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