Like “rats in a bag”
Tory politician attacks his own party
May 9, 2024, 1:10 p.m
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The Tories have been in trouble for years, and it’s taking its toll: their poll numbers are abysmal, they’re losing hundreds of local council seats in the elections, and two MPs are defecting to the opposition. A conservative mayor now finds drastic words and knows the culprit.
The rifts in British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party are widening. The Tories are fighting each other “like rats in a bag” and the responsibility lies with Sunak, said the Conservative mayor of the northeastern English Tees Valley region, Ben Houchen, on BBC Radio Tees.
Houchen’s re-election was the only Tory victory in recent local elections in England. He had avoided close contact with Sunak during the election campaign and did not wear the traditional blue rosette on his lapel at the victory celebration. The politician said he had forgotten her.
30 points behind in survey
In the latest survey by the Yougov opinion research institute for the Times newspaper, the Conservatives got 18 percent, 30 points behind the opposition Labor party. This is the highest deficit since the chaotic days under short-term Prime Minister Liz Truss in autumn 2022. A new parliament must be elected in Great Britain by January 2025 at the latest.
The prospects for the Conservatives are getting worse every day, Houchen said. “It’s pretty chaos at the moment, isn’t it?” People are not convinced by Labor either. But the Tories would present themselves as a torn party any day. “Ultimately, the population does not vote for parties that are not united, do not form a unified front and do not speak to the population,” said Houchen.
The Conservatives lost almost 500 council seats and the town hall in the West Midlands region in the local elections, as well as a by-election to the British Parliament in Blackpool, northwest England. Most recently, two Conservative MPs switched to Labour.