Will the Tory party survive this crises?

Last night it emerged that Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s adviser, told a former cabinet minister that he would be purged from the party hours before Tuesday’s crucial vote.

He is understood to have asked Greg Clark, business secretary until July: “When are you f***ing MPs going to realise, we are leaving on October 31? We are going to purge you.” Mr Clark voted in favour of seizing control of the Commons agenda and was stripped of the Tory whip soon after.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pressure-on-prime-minister-boris-johnson-as-party-anger-grows-over-purge-7ptqjqn5s?utm_source=Unica&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=james_RA_daily_fixed_timing

We're leading the fight for an Exit from Brexit.
We believe that Britain is better off in the EU. That's why we're fighting for an Exit from Brexit.

The Conservatives are making a mess of Brexit, and the Labour Leadership continue to support them.

The Liberal Democrats want to give you the final say on the Brexit deal.

You should be able to choose whether the deal is the right deal for Britain's future. If it's not, then you should be able to reject it and remain in the European Union.

www.libdems.org.uk/

Whitewater mark2 - I am struggling to find out if there is a viable party to vote for. However, preferably a party where they play as a team and represent the people. Not a party who are so intent on infighting, they achieve nothing except pulling each other down. That’s the oppositions job!

Letwin did rebel but then he has already announced that he is retiring so not that big a deal for him. He won't be available to vote for again.

Growstuff - Although moderation sounds good, sometimes things have to be resolved, decisions made, actions taken. You can’t please all of the people all of the time. We did have a democratic vote over Brexit .... I actually voted to Remain .... the party in power has been trying to deliver Brexit, thwarted by the opposition and their own party. Seems to me, if you don’t want to play in a team and support the team ... go and join another team. Who knows where this will end, but one thing is sure, there will never be a happy ending! Asking the people to vote again? Really?

Is that such a bad thing, Pythagorus? Doing nothing does have the advantage of maintain the status quo and not upsetting too many people with change.

Seems to me that the moderates on either side are so set on pleasing everyone, nothing ever gets done!

cam = came (typo)

I see Jonathan Freedland in the Graun has done his sums too. The BP is more likely to pick up seats in the leave-voting Labour seats, but I wonder how many Labour supporters would actually vote Conservative, if push cam to shove.

One way or other, I suspect we're going to see a realignment of UK political parties. I suspect the Tories could be finished in Scotland. The best thing for them would be to hand Scotland independence on a plate.

I did the arithmetic too and reached the same conclusion, growstuff.

I calculate there are 25 seats with former Conservatives now sitting as Independents or LibDems. Just over half of them voted to remain and nearly all the rest were very marginal.

The only one which voted very strongly to leave was Stourbridge.

A couple of them (Putney, Wimbledon, Winchester & Chandler's Ford, South Cambridgeshire) voted strongly to remain.

If a Conservative/Brexit Party alliance were to stand a hard-line Brexit candidate in any of those seats, the chances are that they would lose them to the LibDems.

Even if a Con/BP alliance won most of the rest, it wouldn't increase the Conservative majority.

Well it's a sad day for the Conservative Party when Boris Johnson throws Winston Churchill's grandson (Nicholas Soames) and other former ministers out of the party by text!

I think that Boris has totally misjudged this. I think that he has been mislead by following the advice of lobbyists that helped Trump to power. The roll of British PM is totally different from US President and I don't think that Boris or Steve Bannon, who has been advising him, really get this.

So Johnson has managed to finally split his party. The game is over and the right has won. In the process he has purged (rather like tin pot dictator Pol Pot) some of the finest minds in his party. The Tory party is the poorer.

Moderation no longer exists and bodes very ill for the future.

I can only agree Whitewave.

"The "average age of membership could be as high as 71/72" figure was a 2017 assessment of active members who both pay their full subscription and are aware of it, following the shutdown of the youth wing."

www.bowgroup.org/policy/statement-average-age-and-analysis-conservative-party-membership-2019

The Bow Group is a conservative think tank. Apparently, it's impossible to know the average age of membership accurately, but I knew I wasn't imagining the figure of 72.

along with The PC Brigade.

^ I suspect he is on the spectrum.^

Oh God! That should be the official Gransnet catchphrase.

It seems that there is active plans to absorb the brexit Party into the new hard right Tory party. I wonder which of the safe seats so recently vacated will be given to Far-age?
Watch as the fascist right blame the rebels labelling them as the enemy of the people.

Johnson’s battle is well under way, and at the moment with the polls looking like they do he may well win

The OP asked will the Conservative Party survive.......yes as the alternatives are far too awful to contemplate- Labour Party under momentum/Corbyn, Brexit Party under Farage or Lib Dems under Swinson!!!

No different to the Labour Party

So Johnson has managed to finally split his party. The game is over and the right has won. In the process he has purged (rather like tin pot dictator Pol Pot) some of the finest minds in his party. The Tory party is the poorer.

Moderation no longer exists and bodes very ill for the future.

Almost 40% Conservative party members are 65+ and only 7% are in the 18-25 age group. Your point is still valid growstuff

Apologies. It was from memory. Maybe it was only my own local Conservative Party. It's still pretty old.

No growstuff look it up.

but it's said that the average age of Conservative Party members is 72.

Incorrect.

It’s 57y. And Labour is 53y.

Figures were collated in June 2019.

I think Rasputin might be on his way out. He’s misjudged a few things but thinking the threat of withdrawal of the whip would make “the rebels” toe the line may be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not only did Boris lose but he looked a complete idiot. He won’t forgive that easily.

"So, we won't get a no deal Brexit"

Might be worth not counting chickens yet Maizie after what we have seen with the Rasputin in the background, but I hope you are right.