Friday, August 14, 2015

A spectre is haunting the Tories

Kenneth Clarke, a major figure in the Conservative Party (a former Chancellor, Home Secretary, Lord Chancellor, Justice Secretary, Education Secretary and Health Secretary) explained “If you have another recession or if the Conservative Government becomes very unpopular, he could win. In difficult times the party with the duty of government can become unpopular. He will be difficult to campaign against.”

Matthew d’Ancona, former editor of The Spectator and Deputy Editor of The Sunday Telegraph, is well-connected in Tory circles argues a Corbyn’s leadership “would drag the overall debate to the left and the tiny risk of his victory would be a catastrophe for Britain”. … Even Corbyn’s failure would threaten to re-define the centre ground and, by definition, make the Tories look more rightwing.”

Oliver Cooper – Tory Councillor and Chair of the Conservative Way Forward organising committee – warns Conservatives not to welcome Corbyn’s success. “Corbyn’s views will be more left-wing, so will shift the entire political debate to the left. Long-term, so long as Labour and the Conservatives remain the two major parties in the UK, the only way to make progress is to persuade Labour to accept our position. Our ideas don’t win just when our party does, but when the other party advocates our ideas, too. a Corbyn victory would lend credibility to the far-left … giving a megaphone to their politics. Inevitably, this would skew the discourse, letting Corbyn’s ideas become the default alternative to the Conservatives. Corbyn’s brand of socialism would poison the groundwater of British politics for a generation: influencing people, particularly young people, across the political spectrum.”

Asa Bennett, assistant comment editor at The Telegraph, argues:
 “ just think of this: it takes one calamity – let’s say the Eurozone blows up – and then suddenly the government will fall, and you’ll find Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.”

https://timholmesblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/yes-corbyn-scares-the-tories-heres-why/


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