Miriam Cates/National Conservatives conference

Its interesting how being fairly centralist tends to win elections. When Labour dabbled with moving Left under Corbyn they didn't fare that well, and now the Conservatives have veered suddenly to the right and face winning fewer than 100 seats at the General Election later in the year.

On both those occassions it appears the supporters of the respective non-centralist positions fail to see that they are off putting to much of the electorate.

This

You've largely answered your own question. He was fiscally conservative, not socially. And he has moved further left over his career. David Cameron was conservative PM but was as centrist as they come. Tony Blair was PM for 12 years and as centrist as they come. Does ex leader Blair being a centrist show how left the labour party have gone?

So you are saying that the Prime Minister isn't a Conservative.

Got it.

No, according to Wes Streeting, they have moved from traditional conservatism to adopting Labour policies, like the smoking ban.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, told the Commons: “Of all the policies the Conservatives have adopted from the Labour party in the past few years, nothing shows our dominance in the battle of ideas more than this latest capitulation.

“We happily align ourselves with big health in defence of the nation and we are only too happy to defend the health secretary against the siren voices of big tobacco we see gathered around our former prime minister in the corner of the chamber.

“A stopped clock is right twice a day, and I find myself agreeing with the former prime minister. This is absolutely an un-Conservative bill, it is a Labour bill, and we are delighted to see the government bring it forward.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/16/house-of-commons-votes-in-favour-of-smoking-ban-despite-opposition-from-dozens-of-tories

Maybe the people that didn’t vote were smokers and didn’t want to be outed as hypocrites.

The point may be, that a former Conservative Chancellor holds views that are no longer deemed Conservative, showing how far to the right the Conservative party have moved in recent years.

How do you explain the reprimand for the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham in 2020 for speaking at a far right (as judged by the then Conservative leader) meeting in Rome in that year?

You seem to think that everyone on the right must think the same about every issue. Ken's views would not be considered conservative by many people on many issues, hence it would be absurd to suggest he is far-right.

Its Sunak's big project. He Sunak un-conservative?

The Left - "We want to ban speech we disagree with"
Everyone else - "No"
The right - "We want to ban speech we disagree with"
Everyone else - "No"

Problem solved.

But you would agree that he holds traditional conservative values dear and isn't labelled Far Right?
Or can you find examples of when he has been labelled Far Right?

How do you explain the reprimand for the MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham in 2020 for speaking at a far right (as judged by the then Conservative leader) meeting in Rome in that year?

Quite a lot of Tories didn't vote for the smoking ban. It was mainly supported by Labour. Some tories even called it un-Conservative. It does seem like a bizarre law which is going to be increasingly difficult to police as the cohort affected gets older.

He's been in politics for over 50 years and his views are particularly moderate, he's actually moved towards the left over his career.

"I'm putting this here because I know a lot of GC feminists support Cates"

FWIW. most posters on here are adult women and have the level of intelligence to agree with some points that a politician makes while disagreeing with other points. There are a small number of posters who have difficulties with these fundamental concepts about democracy.

When I hear for example Kenneth Clarke expressing traditional conservative views I don't hear him being labelled Far Right.
But the current Conservative party does not appear to hold the traditional conservative views of the likes of Kenneth Clarke.

Anyone expressing traditional coservative views is labelled far-right these days. I guess it's click-baity.

I remember, but I don't think those examples & "no platforming" generally are exactly the same thing that is happening here.

Should Corbyn have been criticised for some of those he met with?
No I don't think he should have. All this "shared a platform with..." nonsense seemed to start around that time and it was as infuriating then as it is now.

It is certainly interesting how far the Tory party has shifted in the past 4 years.

https://news.sky.com/story/tory-mp-daniel-kawczynski-reprimanded-but-avoids-suspension-for-conference-talk-alongside-far-right-figures-11927858

How much should we judge politicans by the company they keep?
Should Corbyn have been criticised for some of those he met with?

It would appear that Cates is unlikely to be an MP for much longer.
Perhaps her constituents don't share her concerns for women and children?

https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/calcwork23.py?postcode=S36+7BX

Given that most of the people on this thread (including @AdamRyan ) would be described as "far right" by some for having even the mildest GC views, I'm no longer especially worried or shocked by that label. I'll judge people by what they say and agree and disagree with them per issue.