Right Wing Tories Dare Rishi Sunak To "Fish" In Reform's "Pond"

Rishi Sunak remains under pressure to move further to the right in order to stem the leak of votes to Reform UK, and it looks likely to intensify with the polling gulf between the Conservatives and Labour as wide as ever.

 

One former secretary of state complained that the party needs to behave as a "Conservative government, rather than a social democratic government pretending to be a Conservative government" if they want to protect their right wing vote share.

“The reason people are going to Reform is because they think we are not doing conservative things and by and large, Conservative voters expect a Conservative government to do conservative things," the disgruntled Tory MP told PoliticsHome.

"There is no purpose in trying to fish in Labour’s pond. We should be looking at our own constituency."

The Conservatives lost almost half of the council seats they were contesting and West Midlands mayor Andy Street in the recent local elections, triggering the latest battle for the soul of the party. That they also lost a parliamentary by-election with a historic swing to Labour on the same day added a fly in the already noxious ointment.

While the Conservatives are shedding votes in all directions, it's the support they're losing to the right that appears to have fired up MPs the most. JL Partners' latest voter intention poll found that 20 per cent of people who voted for the Conservatives at the 2019 general election intend to support Reform UK at the next election, while 18 per cent plan to switch to Labour. Five per cent intend to shift from the Tories to the Liberal Democrats.

As a result there are increasing calls for Sunak to prioritise shoring up his policy offering for the right, including leaving the European Convention