It’d be stupid for that to happen. Tory members are nowhere near representative of Tory voters, let alone voters that they need to win over in the next general election. If they want to doom themselves to being the third largest party in parliament, they can merge with Reform.
thedybbuk_ on
Yeah… the second half of this headline really limits how seriously it can be taken.
Cottonshopeburnfoot on
Doesn’t surprise me tbh and I think it’s a real possibility of the tories can’t regain voters from reform or apathy
jimmyrayreid on
Oldest political party in the world. Most successful democratic party in the world. So morally and intellectually defeated they want to join a party that’s got 5 MPs
Deep_Delivery2465 on
It’s almost like Tory voters are exactly who we thought they were
Downtown_Category163 on
“It was carried out by the right-wing Popular Conservatism (PopCon) organisation”
So many layers of irony
TimboWatts on
Last thing Reform need are those Blairite wets…
Perhaps one or two actual conservatives could move over?
Christian-Metal on
No way.
A party can be aligned in it’s ideology – and with the Conservatives being one of the broadcast churches of parties in all of Europe, there is inevitably a stretch of thought on what the core ideology should be – but you want to appeal to as many people as possible. A party that just tacks to the right to try to appeal to the base and win back Reform voters will never win back power. There is a reason we also lost so many votes to the Lib Dems. We need to win back both sides, as well as those who don’t normally veer too hard to the right.
Amazing_Battle3777 on
Aka conservatives are done and they are trying to jump ship and convert from within. Classic career politicians would. They need that cushy income.
Roncon1981 on
I guess we can’t be surprised that this is the way it’s going. The Tories were way too fond of the right wing rhetoric and so it seems we’re their supporters
LycanIndarys on
This won’t work, for two reasons:
* There are plenty of moderate Tory voters (and just as importantly, *potential* Tory voters) who simply won’t vote for a party with Farage in it. The One Nation Tories who vote for the party because they believe in pro-business & small government, and think the party’s obsession with Europe and immigration is really weird, but something that they had to just put up with as the price of getting the policies that they wanted. If the parties merge, they’ll probably vote Lib Dem instead.
* There are plenty of Reform voters who were only voting Reform to give the Tories a kicking in the first place; they’re not going to agree to vote for the Tories if they merge. If they wanted to vote Tory, they already would. Instead they’ll find another anti-establishment protest party to vote for.
A merged party probably wouldn’t get any more votes than the Tories are getting currently, and have a good chance of actually getting fewer.
andymaclean19 on
“Liz Truss’s think tank”. Really?! What do you do for a living? I work in Liz Truss’s think tank! Wow. One of the last people I would imagine having a think tank.
I mean, that would be like Borris Johnson doing ethics advice or Vladimir Putin mediating peace talks.
dvb70 on
Liz Truss’s think tank. They could put that in the dictionary as an example of an oxymoron
Jensablefur on
These are a membership who unironically voted for Liz Truss to be our PM
Hardly surprising they’re looking at the UK alt-right and thinking “we’ll have a bit of that”.
YesAmAThrowaway on
Truss has her own think tank? Quick side note that think tank is code for “opinionated people wanting you to believe what they say” most of the time. Chances are that “poll” asked a certain subset of people, resulting in a pre-determined outcome.
ManOnNoMission on
Ah yes my favourite fact source, the people who thought Truss would be a good PM.
DeadSpaceLover on
Only 470 members surveyed. Conservative membership is 170k. Not even 1% of membership surveyed so the value of this poll is roughly equal to the poop I just deposited in the toilet. Get in the bin and take lame-o-Liz with it.
Also the Independent needs to school their writers on data literacy…
SirRareChardonnay on
And none of Reform want anything to do with them. They don’t trust the Tories after 14 years, and the shit show that’s been left. They had a big majority and could have done so much. Unforgivable. Can absolutely not be trusted under any circumstances.
Necessary-Product361 on
Lizz Truss having a think tank is abit like Thatcher having an empathy tank.
Creepy-Bell-4527 on
I just dread the idea of Nigel Farage as the conservative leader. That man triggers English racists like noone’s business.
azxmaa on
Good let them do that. It will be the best way to ensure that Liberal Democrats win the next election, as at least a quarter of the Tories will leave the party for the liberals.
iamezekiel1_14 on
Please do remember that Mark Littlewood (ex Director IEA, the only failed Liz Truss resignation honours appointment to the House of Lords) fronts the Truss Pop Con Group before giving this any credence.
appletinicyclone on
Liz truss think tank sounds like the vegetable box at the bottom of a fridge
tenroseUK on
Liz Truss’s think tank should be donated to Ukraine, at least then it’d be useful.
wondercaliban on
Tory members are not the same as the voters they need to win back
Thebritishdovah on
As bad as the tories are, I seriously doubt they are desperate enough to join reform. Most likely, they want Reform to come to them and be their shield. It worked for them using the lib dems as their cronies.
LondonDude123 on
So IF true, then one of two things happen: Either the Tories take on Reform while remaining in control, or Reform take on the Tories while remaining in control.
If Option A: Thats gotta sting. Like your party is so dead that you need to bring in a party created less than 5 years ago to keep you alive, because your voters have all jumped ship.
If Option B: Why on earth would Reform agree to take on a party thats dying when they’re on the up?
27 Comments
It’d be stupid for that to happen. Tory members are nowhere near representative of Tory voters, let alone voters that they need to win over in the next general election. If they want to doom themselves to being the third largest party in parliament, they can merge with Reform.
Yeah… the second half of this headline really limits how seriously it can be taken.
Doesn’t surprise me tbh and I think it’s a real possibility of the tories can’t regain voters from reform or apathy
Oldest political party in the world. Most successful democratic party in the world. So morally and intellectually defeated they want to join a party that’s got 5 MPs
It’s almost like Tory voters are exactly who we thought they were
“It was carried out by the right-wing Popular Conservatism (PopCon) organisation”
So many layers of irony
Last thing Reform need are those Blairite wets…
Perhaps one or two actual conservatives could move over?
No way.
A party can be aligned in it’s ideology – and with the Conservatives being one of the broadcast churches of parties in all of Europe, there is inevitably a stretch of thought on what the core ideology should be – but you want to appeal to as many people as possible. A party that just tacks to the right to try to appeal to the base and win back Reform voters will never win back power. There is a reason we also lost so many votes to the Lib Dems. We need to win back both sides, as well as those who don’t normally veer too hard to the right.
Aka conservatives are done and they are trying to jump ship and convert from within. Classic career politicians would. They need that cushy income.
I guess we can’t be surprised that this is the way it’s going. The Tories were way too fond of the right wing rhetoric and so it seems we’re their supporters
This won’t work, for two reasons:
* There are plenty of moderate Tory voters (and just as importantly, *potential* Tory voters) who simply won’t vote for a party with Farage in it. The One Nation Tories who vote for the party because they believe in pro-business & small government, and think the party’s obsession with Europe and immigration is really weird, but something that they had to just put up with as the price of getting the policies that they wanted. If the parties merge, they’ll probably vote Lib Dem instead.
* There are plenty of Reform voters who were only voting Reform to give the Tories a kicking in the first place; they’re not going to agree to vote for the Tories if they merge. If they wanted to vote Tory, they already would. Instead they’ll find another anti-establishment protest party to vote for.
A merged party probably wouldn’t get any more votes than the Tories are getting currently, and have a good chance of actually getting fewer.
“Liz Truss’s think tank”. Really?! What do you do for a living? I work in Liz Truss’s think tank! Wow. One of the last people I would imagine having a think tank.
I mean, that would be like Borris Johnson doing ethics advice or Vladimir Putin mediating peace talks.
Liz Truss’s think tank. They could put that in the dictionary as an example of an oxymoron
These are a membership who unironically voted for Liz Truss to be our PM
Hardly surprising they’re looking at the UK alt-right and thinking “we’ll have a bit of that”.
Truss has her own think tank? Quick side note that think tank is code for “opinionated people wanting you to believe what they say” most of the time. Chances are that “poll” asked a certain subset of people, resulting in a pre-determined outcome.
Ah yes my favourite fact source, the people who thought Truss would be a good PM.
Only 470 members surveyed. Conservative membership is 170k. Not even 1% of membership surveyed so the value of this poll is roughly equal to the poop I just deposited in the toilet. Get in the bin and take lame-o-Liz with it.
Also the Independent needs to school their writers on data literacy…
And none of Reform want anything to do with them. They don’t trust the Tories after 14 years, and the shit show that’s been left. They had a big majority and could have done so much. Unforgivable. Can absolutely not be trusted under any circumstances.
Lizz Truss having a think tank is abit like Thatcher having an empathy tank.
I just dread the idea of Nigel Farage as the conservative leader. That man triggers English racists like noone’s business.
Good let them do that. It will be the best way to ensure that Liberal Democrats win the next election, as at least a quarter of the Tories will leave the party for the liberals.
Please do remember that Mark Littlewood (ex Director IEA, the only failed Liz Truss resignation honours appointment to the House of Lords) fronts the Truss Pop Con Group before giving this any credence.
Liz truss think tank sounds like the vegetable box at the bottom of a fridge
Liz Truss’s think tank should be donated to Ukraine, at least then it’d be useful.
Tory members are not the same as the voters they need to win back
As bad as the tories are, I seriously doubt they are desperate enough to join reform. Most likely, they want Reform to come to them and be their shield. It worked for them using the lib dems as their cronies.
So IF true, then one of two things happen: Either the Tories take on Reform while remaining in control, or Reform take on the Tories while remaining in control.
If Option A: Thats gotta sting. Like your party is so dead that you need to bring in a party created less than 5 years ago to keep you alive, because your voters have all jumped ship.
If Option B: Why on earth would Reform agree to take on a party thats dying when they’re on the up?