"The latest ‘Popular Conservatism’ survey shows party members want to be heard within a truly Conservative party"
Conservative Home: 19th September 2024: Annunziata Rees-Mogg (PopCon's Head of Media) analyses PopCon's fourth opinion panel results.
"... although the press’s attention is on the leadership campaigns, the resounding message from all our surveys is that the Tories need to do much more than just elect a new leader: our panel of over 500 members wants the party to democratise and move to the right. They want a Conservative Party that does what it says on the tin – a True Blue Tory party...
...One message our panel is pushing loud and clear is that the membership needs to be involved in the reform of the party.
Not only do 66 percent want a vote on all nominated candidates – not just the final two the MPs put forward – in future leadership elections, but 60 percent want a vote on who is deputy leader as well. Just under three in four want members to elect the Party Chairman. And only 21 percent believe the next Chairman must be a current Parliamentarian, which it could be argued speaks to the suspicion many members feel about the motivations of those in Westminster...
...Looking at the members we have surveyed, the four contenders can learn three simple lessons: involve the membership in electing key positions, reform the party structure, and return the party unambiguously to the right of centre.
When only 2.6 percent of supporters believe the party should stay “where it is” on the political spectrum and 89.6 percent thinking the Tories should move to the right, our respondents are sending a clear message for what the next leader and their chairman must do: Go blue or go bust."