| Topic: | Re:Ken Clarke - votewinner or voteloser ? | |
| Posted by: | Brendan McCarthy | |
| Date/Time: | 04/05/05 20:01:00 |
| Your problem David is that the Tories, as things stand, are united around a prospectus that just doesn't have a broad enough appeal. In his commentary today on the website ePolitix, Bob Worcester of Mori publishes some interesting statistics. Asked which of a number of definitions came closest to their political views, 1009 interviewees questioned in recent days replied: New Labour 23% Old Labour 13% Liberal 16% Thatcherite Tory 9% One Nation Tory 7% Social Democrat 6% Other/None/Don't know 27% Any Tory revival has to take realistic account of these mathematics. It is possible to have a party of select brethren, who have plenty of common ground with each other, but little appeal to the country. The Conservatives seem to have forgotten that political parties are themselves coalitions of very different interests - and until they can recover some sense of that, they will linger in the wilderness. That ePolitix page is http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200505/c66545c2-8cb0-40eb-bb33-b72bd2074945.htm |