Veteran Political Strategist Says Tory Party's Biggest Enemy Is "Themselves"

Frank Luntz, an Influential political strategist, has said the Conservative Party’s worst threat is “themselves”, as the Tories continue to struggle in the polls and face significant losses at the next general election.

Luntz has worked in politics for three decades and is renowned for helping conservative politicians resonate their ideas with the public. His best-known advice includes telling former US President George Bush’s government that they should use the term “climate change” rather than “global warming”, and he famously coined the term "death tax" as an alternative to "inheritance tax" in political campaigning. 

Speaking to PoliticsHome as the UK prepares for a general election to be called this year, with a set of local votes taking place as soon as May, the veteran American pollster said he believed the reason the Conservatives were facing such heavy defeat was that they had failed to connect with the public.

But he felt the greatest threat to the current ruling party was "themselves", and that a lack of vision was making defeat increasingly inevitable. 

“Elections are not about the past, they are about the future. But the public has had enough of Conservative rule,” he said.

“You can see in all the surveys, in all the focus groups, that they want something different that apparently is not being heard by MPs. [Government is] going to face a very hostile electorate probably six months from now."

Luntz has said he believes that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a “talented politician”, particularly after observing him at the Conservative Party conference in October last year. But he felt that the Government has offered too much of the “status quo” to voters and not enough “fundamental change”.

“[Sunak] needs to offer a