Who will be our next Conservative leader? Who is right for the job?

Tom Tugendhat is my local MP, and although I am not a Tory voter, I think he would do a good job as leader. I like his stance on antisemitism.

NOT JENRICK
I very much felt his constant reference to Ben Wallace [a man with more gravitas in his little finger than Jenrick] was Jenrick's attempt to tap into and align himself with someone of standing as did Johnson with Churchill - I believe they call it 'to hang onto the coat-tail of others'.
Unfortunately I am in Jenrick's constituency but not in Newark, the epicentre where most of his acts of benevolance are concentrated and distributed.
Another post on Gransnet forums raises the issue of the dubious practise of handouts i.e. 'Robert Jenrick accepts £75k in donations from company with ‘unclear’ origins' well researched by Wyllow3 and LizzieDrip.
I believe it is insufficient for MP's to declare pecuniary interests, the practise of accepting money, sponsorships etc, etc should be stopped immediately and completely to stop the country being overrun by duckhouses.

pen50

Wyllow3

Oreo, given that there are 4/5 threads on KS, I had genuinely hoped we'd hear from Conservative voters as to what they want in terms of policy and leadership.

Gransnet - in my experience - leans left, and anyone who expresses conservative ideas usually experiences an unpleasant pile on. I would love to be able to discuss matters such as immigration, taxation, the welfare state, defence, education, policing, the judiciary etc, but I have come to the conclusion, watching what's happened in other threads, that I would quickly find myself in the middle of a s41tstorm, and I'm not strong enough to put up with that. My views are broadly centre right, with some tweaks regarding controls on monopoly and oligopoly, but it seems nowadays that anyone who publicly expressed an opinion on such matters which doesn't chime with those on the Left is automatically described as a Nazi. I am not a Nazi, but I don't want to become the subject of such attacks.

Gransnet - in my experience - leans left, and anyone who expresses conservative ideas usually experiences an unpleasant pile on.

I don't think that is strictly true.

Of course there are some who appear to go into auto attack mode when a poster expresses a Conservative view, and I think probably they are best ignored, especially if the post includes taunts - like "Nazi" etc, which is a bit juvenile - the kind of insult that a 16-year-old might hurl around, not fully understanding its meaning.

I'm left-leaning, but have never called anyone a Nazi - nor used any other taunt come to that. And I know others who hold similar views to mine - Iam64 and Doodledog among others - who I don't think would ever indulge in that kind of rhetoric... they engage with the argument.

Having said that, it's not always the "lefties" who are unpleasant - some on the right have made comments, unprovoked, which can only be described as deliberately goading. Which of course then results in intemperate back-and-forth. Which gets nowhere and just ends up with accusations and counter-accusations. In other words, personal attacks.

You obviously believe that GN 'leans' left - from my experience, it's more centrist - BUT, that depends very much on which threads we've both been reading I guess?

Like Wyllow3 I also hoped to hear from Conservative voters about the direction they'd like the party to take. And I'm interested to explore whether it (the party) will have its ear to the ground and take on board what the electorate thinks about it - do they fully understand why they lost the election, because it was the electorate after all who voted them out.

For example, Liz Truss appears to believe that the party would've faired better at the polling booth had she still been the leader rather than Sunak - which I thought was an astonishing claim! But, my opinion of her comes from the centre-left most of which will not be voting Conservative anyway presumably - so it's more important to know what they, the Conservative voters, think.

Since New Labour, I really am confused as to which represents what thesedays, but my goodness neither Labour nor the Tories seem fit for the purpose on anything We are in such a mess. Proportional representation might help but cant see that happening. A complete overhaul and a fourth party is what we need. But wait..............

sky news seems to be the best actually following party events
news.sky.com/story/tory-conference-latest-all-tory-candidates-have-path-to-victory-poll-reveals-but-one-has-momentum-12593360

pen50

Wyllow3

Oreo, given that there are 4/5 threads on KS, I had genuinely hoped we'd hear from Conservative voters as to what they want in terms of policy and leadership.

Gransnet - in my experience - leans left, and anyone who expresses conservative ideas usually experiences an unpleasant pile on. I would love to be able to discuss matters such as immigration, taxation, the welfare state, defence, education, policing, the judiciary etc, but I have come to the conclusion, watching what's happened in other threads, that I would quickly find myself in the middle of a s41tstorm, and I'm not strong enough to put up with that. My views are broadly centre right, with some tweaks regarding controls on monopoly and oligopoly, but it seems nowadays that anyone who publicly expressed an opinion on such matters which doesn't chime with those on the Left is automatically described as a Nazi. I am not a Nazi, but I don't want to become the subject of such attacks.

I am amused by the number of posters who consider themselves to be centre, moderate, can see both sides of every argument, even handed etc. Funnily enough, I think all of that applies to me, too. Don't we all think our views are reasonable? I see these claims on all sorts of threads, not just ones about political parties, and I can't think of a single example where the bias of someone claiming to be the voice of reason isn't immediately obvious after a post or two, whatever their protestations to the contrary.

Just being a voter for one colour or the other doesn't in itself make someone left or right wing. Most of us are made up of a range of views, unless we've bought into a whole manifesto or set of views. Even MPs and Cabinet Ministers don't always agree on everything.

Name calling is annoying but shouldn't be taken personally. I've been called a Nazi for believing that men can't become women by saying magic words - it just shows a woeful lack of understanding of what Nazism is, and it is (IMO) very offensive to the millions of victims of Nazis that the name is used so casually to mean 'someone who doesn't agree with me'.

Anyway. I think Cleverly is probably the best of a bad bunch. Badenoch is too far right. Jenrick too likely to take us back to sleaze and corruption, and I don't know enough about Tugendhat.

When is the vote?

None of those four! Good grief is that the best they can do! Bring back Boris !

Quite agree Romola, and among the best prime ministers we never had I'd include Paddy Ashdown.

As said already the great problem for the Cons party at the moment is the loss of the principled solid MPs thrown out by Boris Johnson over Brexit, thinking esp of Dominic Grieve and Philip Hammond

Not one of them.

A Lib Dem activist, I feel nostalgic for the days of Ken Clark, Michael Heseltine, Willie Whitelaw, Geoffrey How etc.
This lot are pygmies in comparison.

GrannyGravy13

Wyllow3 my constituency MP (Conservative) is really good and on top of local issues, their voting record is not always as I would have liked.

Unfortunately they have no interest in being Leader.

I'm genuinely always glad to hear of a good MP at work GG13.

- in the constituency, in parliamentary committees "behind the scenes", whatever party they come from. Glad you have a good un.

However as you say, it's often these sort of MP's that are not attracted by leadership politics. My Labour MP is (after quite some years) in the cabinet, and we have seen far less of her, although she has good case-workers in her office both paid and voluntary.

pen50 how perspectives differ!

" immigration, taxation, the welfare state, defence, education, policing, the judiciary etc" Over the last few months we've has discussions on all these points, and there have been consistent views from right and left put over.

If you look at the list of titles in "News and Politics" there is a plethora of anti-Starmer O/P's.

Truly, I can find no reference to your views being called a Nazi, and I certainly don't think that. Please do put over your POV.

I think that pile ons happen both ways and generally, unfortunately, thats when discussion about real subject matter walks out of the door ....

Wyllow3 my constituency MP (Conservative) is really good and on top of local issues, their voting record is not always as I would have liked.

Unfortunately they have no interest in being Leader.

pen50 it’s best to laugh it off. I am still in stitches after being likened to Lady Grantham …..

In GN we've had people saying how their conservative MP's have helped them etc so I don't think we can tar all with the same brush.

Problem for me is that I just don't know who has been left in place after the election, whether they are of a similar political persuasion or its pretty random depending on the voting patterns over the country.

Wyllow3

*Oreo*, given that there are 4/5 threads on KS, I had genuinely hoped we'd hear from Conservative voters as to what they want in terms of policy and leadership.

Gransnet - in my experience - leans left, and anyone who expresses conservative ideas usually experiences an unpleasant pile on. I would love to be able to discuss matters such as immigration, taxation, the welfare state, defence, education, policing, the judiciary etc, but I have come to the conclusion, watching what's happened in other threads, that I would quickly find myself in the middle of a s41tstorm, and I'm not strong enough to put up with that. My views are broadly centre right, with some tweaks regarding controls on monopoly and oligopoly, but it seems nowadays that anyone who publicly expressed an opinion on such matters which doesn't chime with those on the Left is automatically described as a Nazi. I am not a Nazi, but I don't want to become the subject of such attacks.

Iam64

I’m not a conservative but - do we really want them finished off with Reform taking their place
Where are the on nation compassionate intelligent conservatives?

Johnson threw them all out ( well, most of them)

I'm increasingly concerned about Badenhoch's extreme views -and also her lack of being able to compromise - I don't think she has any interest in a centrist party and I think it would be a very unwise choice, constant conflict within the party in the HoC.

I regard Jenrick as too fond of dubious handouts and "pals" culture. He also has made some very bizarre claims about the special forces
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp39q1ppk41o

I’m not a conservative but - do we really want them finished off with Reform taking their place
Where are the on nation compassionate intelligent conservatives?

Juniper1

T hey are all hilariously inept. Badenock will finish them off, let’s have her

But that will make Reform the opposition party. I’d rather have a Conservative Party.

T hey are all hilariously inept. Badenock will finish them off, let’s have her

keepingquiet

Yes Tugendhat would be my choice if I had a vote.

However, Badenhoch and Jenrick might just complete the job of finishing the party off. So for that reason I might vote for Badenhoch.

My choice too. Rest too far right.

water, immigration, housing, roads(state of)etc etc.

They tried to morph into UKIP and it destroyed them. And yet they are now trying to morph into Reform. Why haven’t they learned from it. Towards the end all they were concerned about was winning elections by offering tax reductions. Totally focussed on that ( oh and ‘the boats’). They need to look at the wider picture. I, too, feel it’s vitally important for the good of the country that we have a strong opposition. It saddens me when I think of the good, decent Conservative politicians ( eg Dominic Grieve) that the party has lost because of their obsession with far right wing parties.

Iam64

The Reform Party split the Tory vote in my marginal constituency (red wall). Our new Labour MP is good thankfully.
I hope the tories can re-build as Labour did after the electorate clearly rejected what it saw as extreme views. We need a strong, decent opposition. We do not need Kemi as its leader. She’s after the Reform voters

We need a strong, decent opposition. We do not need Kemi as its leader. She’s after the Reform voters

An interesting point.

I think the Tories, when choosing their next leader and deciding their manifesto, are gong to have one beady eye on Reform - looking perhaps at how they can outwit or at least match them.

I might be wrong, but I predict because of that, they'll go further rightward. Which might please some on GN obviously but ultimately a Tory government leaning further to the right, endorsing free-market values, would lead to yet more cuts to public services which even the well-heeled often rely on.