Conservative Party

  • War chest politics

    The end of the Reform UK conference this year brings with it a healthy dose of reality. It needs funds and its members to be active if it wants to contest the next set of elections properly.

    Its main rival, the Conservative Party, has a war chest that far outstrips its own. According to data released by the Electoral Commission in August, the Conservatives added £59,361,000 to its coffers last year.

    This is in contrast to Reform UK’s £1,353,031 in the same timeframe.

    Further, in the second quarter of this year, the Conservative Party took in £16,356,594 (April-June). This is far more than Reform UK, who saw its pot increase in the same period by £2,638,360.

    The difference is enormous, but it’s an encouraging sign.

    The addition of nearly twice as much as last year in the space of just three months is a boon for Zia Yusuf’s party (of which he’s Chairman), and a get-go for Nigel Farage to lead his troops into battle.

  • Tory leadership contest

    The Conservative Party are on a hunt to find a new leader.

    The nominations close tomorrow and after 2:30pm it will be possible to know who wants to lead it.

    It takes over three months to declare the winner, so settle in for the ride. It’s due to be bumpy.

  • Farage vs the Conservative Party

    A look at the results for Nigel Farage MP in his previous electoral runs since 1994 reveals an interesting upward trend. If compared to the incumbent Conservative Party front-runner that same year (excluding two by-elections), however, it doesn’t show such a confident upward streak.

    Farage/Conservative Party vote share

    The fact is Nigel Farage needs to win against a Conservative leader in future to take the reins of conservatism. He would need to look beyond Rishi Sunak’s result this year and see he falls far short by thousands. This is based on a showing of his own constituency results and no other’s.

  • Conservative Party: Through the years

    The vote share for the Conservative Party demonstrates the drop experienced by Rishi Sunak this year. His election campaign clearly fell flat with voters as his tally shows a sharp decline in engagement.

    Conservative Party vote share

  • Trust in politics

    There is a sense that Rishi Sunak faired poorly this time because of some overriding concerns.

    They included a wacky races approach to ‘getting the job done’, started by Boris Johnson himself. He was a popular if populist figure in the Conservative Party and has only been followed by two further Prime Minister’s because his Government failed.

    There’s a definite sense that a strong start needs an even stronger finish.

    The other problem is the parties’ campaigning.

    A recent YouGov poll conducted on 4 July asked the question, “Who do you think has run the best election campaign?”. The results aren’t surprising. Labour polls strongly at 20% but only because 5% of respondents thought the Conservatives did well. It’s an appalling outcome.

    The campaigns were both bombastic and lacklustre.

    In Manchester, Labour attempted a stratospheric launch with its manifesto. Sir Keir Starmer spoke proudly of his newish message of “Change”.

    Meanwhile Rishi Sunak had attempted his own entry into the foray but it largely sank as soon as he set sail owing to a betting scandal.

    The impact on the doorstep is measured in days not weeks, and by the looks of it Labour managed to survive the weeks long process.

    In the end, the Tories achieved a ripple effect.

    It showed in the eventual outcome, and on the Prime Minister’s face as he smiled gingerly at the door of Number 10 and welcomed us into his new future.

    It was another lesson in political statecraft.

  • Sunak polls highly in North Yorks

    In North Yorkshire Rishi Sunak retained his seat in the Richmond and Northallerton constituency. His vote share is 23,059, which is a strong showing against 10,874 for a second place Labour rival Tom Wilson.

    Reform UK presented a respectable third place with Lee Taylor who polled 7,142 votes. It confirms a strong showing for a relatively new party.

    In other news, turnout was particularly high in North Yorkshire. It shows democracy remains vigorous there.

  • Tories lose out in Wales

    The general election of 2024 has gone down as a year of seismic changes.

    Nowhere is this clearer seen than in Wales where the Conservative Party have lost all their seats. The decline of a national party from 13 seats to 0 – and the rise of Labour from 21 to 27 – is hardly unremarkable.

    Such a surge in support shows that Sir Keir Starmer has an approach that works while Rishi Sunak did not.