Conservatives

[CassieMaddox]

Who are you backing in the leadership election and why?

I'm not a conservative voter so my opinion doesn't count for much at all, out of the remaining 4 I'd go Cleverly. And that's in spite of his very ill judged jokes.

I meant Jenrick is very far behind in the MN user votes so he doesn't seem popular.
I am interested from a theoretical point of view as I'll not vote for any of them.
Have to say though, my (admittedly cynical) perception is that Jenrick was basically swapped in for Braverman as that wing of the party think a brown woman would not be palatable to the membership, no matter how tough she is on immigration.

I was surprised Patel went out first though.

The difference is Starmer’s PM with a majority of over 170 and another four years and ten months in power. While the Conservative Parliamentary party is the smallest for over 100 years.

Why are you even on this thread? Did you smell chum in the water?
The op has asked for the opinion of conservatives.

@CassieMaddox you have done a good job of keeping the circling sharks at bay so far, I forgot where I was for a while. Thank you.

Four years and ten months of Labour on the back foot - what larks!

Tonight we had the Sue Gray salary leak on BBC News at Ten, last night it was Diane Abbott sticking the boot in on Newsnight - and have you seen the £18m penthouse Starmer used during the election campaign? Not to mention that Starmer's wife went to the Taylor Swift concert twice on freebie tickets. Question Time is back tomorrow night. Lucy Powell is one of the panelists - she's second on Sky's 'freebie list' after Starmer - that should be fun.

clav what are you hoping the electorate will see from Jenrick to bring voters back? (Assuming Jenrick is your preference as leader from previous comments)

Tugendhat the favourite on here, Badenoch close second at the moment. Gap to Cleverly, Jenrick is languishing very far behind

I voted for Tom Tugendhat in your poll as well - I didn't think I liked him much a few years ago but he's won me over more recently.

Jenrick is my second choice from the four available - on account of him being young, energetic and able to get his message across (even if that message needs some changes further down the line). Unfortunately, I find my thoughts wandering a bit when I listen to Kemi Badenoch which is not a good sign. I don't dislike James Cleverly but he doesn't offer more than any of the others.

@CassieMaddox Ive just looked at Paddy Power betting. Jenrick odds on 8/15 so Tory members want to get the Reform voters back.Jenrick has become more right wing to position himself as a “tough on immigration”
politician. They are barking up the wrong tree of course. The majority in this country are not on the right. They are in the centre and sway left or right. Going too far right turns lots off. Their massive issue is controlling their own ranks and uniting. All candidates will find this impossible.

Sadly I think if Robert Jenrick is one of the two on the ballot, he could well win. The Tory membership is probably not even representative of those who vote Tory on most occasions.

It's like collective self harm. I would be in absolute despair if I were a Tory voter.

The one I live with is.

Well this is interesting. Labour fear Cleverly the most, but he's quite low in the odds and doesn't seem that popular with the Tories.
I think Labour have assessed Cleverly as the most likely to appeal to the voters they won off the Conservatives, but the Tories don't seem to be considering that.

inews.co.uk/opinion/the-tory-leadership-candidate-labour-most-fears-3295482

Who would you most fear as LOTO @CassieMaddox ?

Fwiw, I don't think any of the candidates have what it takes to lead us into the next election. I'm hoping to see some fresh faces in the shadow cabinet.

That's kind of why I started the thread. I'm a centre/left voter, so naturally I would think Cleverly because he's closest to me ideologically and I think I'm representative of the people the Tories need to win to get back in (especially with Reform nibbling away at the right of their voter base).

BUT it may be that Cleverly isn't attractive at all to the core voter base.

I think personally Jenrick and Badenoch are too far right and also have their own unique problems that make them not much of a threat. But again, I'm centre left so how reliable my thoughts on it are I don't know.

Jenrick to me is associated too closely with Braverman politics (e.g. the murals) and that will put some Conservatives off who want to reduce immigration but don't want to be cruel. Also I don't think his position on single sex spaces will have helped him at all. And his background is a bit tired - stereotypically Tory, rich, white, privately educated, won't help with their "out of touch" reputation.

Badenoch seems bad under pressure and also gets into fights a lot with others. I think her reputation with other MPs isn't great from what I've read so she may struggle to command the respect of her party. Finally I'm not sure the members are ready for a black, female, Nigerian heritage leader. So all those things would make me feel she's not a threat as 1) she might be easy to wind up and 2) she might not last long if she fluffs up.

All of these candidates are rejects from the last administration which was kicked into orbit by the electorate. Whoever wins will not be leading the Tories into the next election (they make not make it to next year).

Until the party truly rinses itself of the right-wing shit it has been bathing in these past years (which it won't) then it's just going to carry on shrinking until there's only a voice left. The political equivalent of the gingerbread man.

You can't have 4 competing (and in some cases exclusive) "visions" for the party, and then expect the losing 3 and their chums to just shut up.

Currently the bar to sink below is Reforms "mass deportations" which I can easily see one of these 4 taking as a challenge.