-:Undertaker:-
05-02-2014, 03:20 AM
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timwigmore/100257978/why-tory-mps-are-fleeing-westminster/#disqus_thread
Why Tory MPs are fleeing Westminster
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2014/02/tim-yeo_2321165a-460x288.jpg
Tim Yeo has been deselected
The Curse of Cameron is back. The Prime Minister used to specialise in dooming British sportsmen to defeat. Now he has a new hobby: helping backbenchers get sacked. In the last week, local constituency associations have handed out P45s to both Tim Yeo and Anne McIntosh. In publicly trying to save both from the chop, David Cameron has only embarrassed himself.
To local Tory associations, an endorsement from Mr Cameron now carries about as much weight as one from Nick Clegg. As party membership has collapsed – halving under Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party to accelerate a long-running trend – so party selection has fallen to a progressively smaller selection of people. Disillusioned members who haven't left want to reclaim their party – and that means cleansing it of MPs like Mr Yeo, who has publicly blamed his decapitation on his moderation. Constituencies are becoming increasingly adroit at pressuring their MPs to vote against the Government. Being a bland party stooge may offer hope of advancement within Westminster – but it now carries the increasing risk of being booted out of it.
The reassertion of backbench power will be welcomed as long overdue. Downing Street, though, does not agree. These rumbles of discontent have contributed to five of the Tory 2010 intake quitting (including Louise Mensch, who has already left Westminster). Four of these are women, prompting endless dissection of Mr Cameron's "women problem". There is something in this. But it's exacerbated by the Conservative leadership's disdain for dissident voices: a simplistic "with us or against us" thinking. The Policy Board was meant to open Number 10 up to new ideas – but it's become merely "a way to increase the payroll vote", one MP complains. The attitude at the top of the party is likened to "group think", with anything outside the top five issues discarded, so "lots of MPs ask: am I making more of a difference here than I would outside?"
That's particularly true of Conservatives in marginal seats, which is why there could be more Conservative departures to come. Tories with narrow majorities over Labour and a strong third-placed Lib Dem vote are particularly vulnerable: some "will see Ukip doing well and think f––– me. I can't be bothered with this any more", a Conservative MP fears.
CCHQ needs to stop the drip-drip of Tory departures. Each new MP who resigns costs the party an average of 1,000 votes at the next election. Even as the economy grows, this is support that the Tories can't afford to shed.
The terminal decline of the Tory Party continues, and even the useless Tory MPs know it doesn't have a hope.
Collapsing membership, no chance of regaining the seats in Scotland and northern England that it held the last time it had a maojority back in 1992, activists joining Ukip in droves or simply not turning out, a leader many of them cannot stand yet he polls higher than the party in the polling data: can you blame the MPs for walking away for future jobs on the EU gravytrain or in directorships in the City?
The more I hear news like this, the more and more i'm expecting Peter Hitchens' prediction of a fake Coalition split in May this year.
Thoughts?
Why Tory MPs are fleeing Westminster
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2014/02/tim-yeo_2321165a-460x288.jpg
Tim Yeo has been deselected
The Curse of Cameron is back. The Prime Minister used to specialise in dooming British sportsmen to defeat. Now he has a new hobby: helping backbenchers get sacked. In the last week, local constituency associations have handed out P45s to both Tim Yeo and Anne McIntosh. In publicly trying to save both from the chop, David Cameron has only embarrassed himself.
To local Tory associations, an endorsement from Mr Cameron now carries about as much weight as one from Nick Clegg. As party membership has collapsed – halving under Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party to accelerate a long-running trend – so party selection has fallen to a progressively smaller selection of people. Disillusioned members who haven't left want to reclaim their party – and that means cleansing it of MPs like Mr Yeo, who has publicly blamed his decapitation on his moderation. Constituencies are becoming increasingly adroit at pressuring their MPs to vote against the Government. Being a bland party stooge may offer hope of advancement within Westminster – but it now carries the increasing risk of being booted out of it.
The reassertion of backbench power will be welcomed as long overdue. Downing Street, though, does not agree. These rumbles of discontent have contributed to five of the Tory 2010 intake quitting (including Louise Mensch, who has already left Westminster). Four of these are women, prompting endless dissection of Mr Cameron's "women problem". There is something in this. But it's exacerbated by the Conservative leadership's disdain for dissident voices: a simplistic "with us or against us" thinking. The Policy Board was meant to open Number 10 up to new ideas – but it's become merely "a way to increase the payroll vote", one MP complains. The attitude at the top of the party is likened to "group think", with anything outside the top five issues discarded, so "lots of MPs ask: am I making more of a difference here than I would outside?"
That's particularly true of Conservatives in marginal seats, which is why there could be more Conservative departures to come. Tories with narrow majorities over Labour and a strong third-placed Lib Dem vote are particularly vulnerable: some "will see Ukip doing well and think f––– me. I can't be bothered with this any more", a Conservative MP fears.
CCHQ needs to stop the drip-drip of Tory departures. Each new MP who resigns costs the party an average of 1,000 votes at the next election. Even as the economy grows, this is support that the Tories can't afford to shed.
The terminal decline of the Tory Party continues, and even the useless Tory MPs know it doesn't have a hope.
Collapsing membership, no chance of regaining the seats in Scotland and northern England that it held the last time it had a maojority back in 1992, activists joining Ukip in droves or simply not turning out, a leader many of them cannot stand yet he polls higher than the party in the polling data: can you blame the MPs for walking away for future jobs on the EU gravytrain or in directorships in the City?
The more I hear news like this, the more and more i'm expecting Peter Hitchens' prediction of a fake Coalition split in May this year.
Thoughts?