Over the past week, there has been growing speculation as to whether or not grassroots Conservatives will be passing a motion to trigger Theresa May’s resignation as leader of the Conservative Party.
It was reported in The Telegraph the other day that a group of Chairmen from various Conservative party associations had said that Mrs May should resign before the annual party conference in September. I decided to investigate these claims to find out whether there is a consensus amongst ‘Young Conservative’ members as to whether or not they believe Theresa May should step down as Prime Minister. What do Young Conservatives really think? The Young Conservatives of London have a leaders’ group chat, comprising all the Chairmen and Presidents of any ‘YC’ branch within the city. The purpose is to help create a sense of cohesion between each London branch and it works as a great networking tool. I posted a poll in their chat to gauge whether or not there was a majority amongst the London leaders to see Mrs May resign. The question posed to the group was: ‘Should Grassroots Conservatives pass a motion calling Theresa May to quit?’ Results: Out of the 40 active members of the group, only 13 decided to cast their vote. So with a turnout of only 32.5%, 7 Presidents were in favour of a motion being put in place to get rid of the Prime Minister, whereas 6 leaders voted to keep her on as PM. In spite of the narrow result and low turnout, I decided to speak with two YC Chairmen about whether they wanted her to resign or stay on. Aaron Gomez, who is one of the leaders of Chelsea’s Young Conservative group, feels that now isn’t the time for a change. He also said: “Young members should remember that at the end of the day, the Conservative Party isn’t Theresa May’s party, it’s theirs.” Aaron believes that what the party offers is a wide range of different ideas within Conservatism and that it’s down to the members as to what direction the party should go in. Moreover, when asked about ‘a motion to get rid of the PM’, Aaron, despite being a leader of a large YC branch, replied saying he had “no idea there were rumours of a no-confidence motion taking place”. One Chairman who believes that we should be getting behind Theresa May and not opting to replace her is Harry Nugent, Chairman of the newly-formed Islington Young Conservatives. He says: “At the end of the day she was elected by the public. Therefore grassroots Conservative members should not have more of a say than the electorate.” Like many YCs who think the Prime Minister should stay throughout the Brexit process, he talks passionately about why a replacement wouldn’t be wise at this point in time. I had a brief chat with Harry about why this was the case…
Amongst those who believe Theresa May should leave is political opinion writer and local Councillor candidate Patrick Timms. When I spoke to him about his view, he said: “Ideally I’d like to see Dominic Raab, as I think he would be a decent leader, but if we were going to go for a boring option in the hope of putting Raab and Boris back into cabinet then I’d probably say Jeremy Hunt for PM.”
Who should replace Theresa May in Number 10? Having been talking to multiple YC activists about what they think, here are two contenders that ‘Young Conservatives’ I spoke to would ideally like to see replace Mrs May. Boris Johnson - At the moment he is proving to be a popular choice with many Tory party members and even the ‘Bookies’ placing him as the likely replacement for Theresa May. His record of winning in London twice as Mayor, in a predominantly Labour area, is also something that has impressed party members. However, some still worry that his ‘clownish’ persona might be a problem for a potential Prime Minister; there is a concern that some world leaders don’t take Mr Johnson all that seriously.
Michael Gove - When talking to the youth membership, Mr Gove seems to be a popular choice. He’s impressed MPs and party members with his record at DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), and many seem to have forgiven him for ‘stabbing’’ Boris in the back’ during the Tory leadership contest last time. The argument as well of a Brexiteer leading the country is also a criterion that Mr Gove meets. However, despite his rousing speech a few months back, many see Michael as a stable Cabinet minister rather than leadership material.
Aside from those big names, others such as Dominic Raab, Jeremy Hunt and Andrea Leadsom have also been talked about in YC groups as being suitable replacements. If you’d like to know what else I managed to find out, then why not listen to this summary? The Issue An issue which has been made apparent over the last few days is that there is no formal way of trying to oust Mrs May. Conservative Home Editor, Mark Wallace, wrote a piece the other day stating four different ways in which Conservatives could get rid of the Prime Minister and despite offering potential options, it’s clear that there is no way to formally do so without going to extreme lengths. UPDATE: Sources have suggested that a local Conservative Association came to a consensus during an extraordinary meeting that the Prime Minister must go. The meeting involved a series of indicative votes, the result of which was that after the EU elections the Conservative Party should have a full-scale leadership contest in the hope of having someone new in place in time for their annual conference in September.
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AuthorEdward Jeffery Archives
April 2019
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