Monthly Archives: October 2024

‘Labour is struggling, but there are four reasons Conservatives cannot be complacent’, ConservativeHome, 26 September 2024

Not for the first time, it was Focaldata’s James Kanagasooriam – the analyst who initially drew attention to the Red Wall’s potential to turn blue in 2019 – who put his finger on it before anyone else. “Labour”, he predicted a … Continue reading

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‘Out of the box: the Tory case for electoral reform’, House Magazine/PoliticsHome, 18 July 2024

Britain’s first-past-thepost (FPTP) electoral system has always been something of a sacred cow to the country’s Conservatives. But it’s one they now need to think seriously about slaughtering.  At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the Conservative Party’s … Continue reading

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‘Wealthy, white and rightwing: the Tory members holding the party’s future in their hands’, Observer, 6 October 2024

The Conservative party is more than just 121 MPs. It’s also tens of thousands of ordinary members. The £39 a year they pay to belong might not entitle them to any real say on the party’s policies, but it does … Continue reading

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‘What makes a good leader – according to Tory members’, House Magazine, 30 September 2024

Whether the Hansard Society’s Audit of Political Engagement, published in the spring of 2019, helped persuade Boris Johnson to get Brexit done “by any means necessary”, we shall never know. But its finding that just over half of respondents believed that … Continue reading

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‘UK election: Reform and Green members campaigned more online – but pounded the pavements less’, The Conversation, 27 September 2024 (with Paul Webb and Stavroula Chrona).

It’s party conference season in Britain, a chance for members to meet and talk through their successes and failures from the election campaign – and start talking strategy for the next. Perhaps inevitably after it suffered such a crushing defeat … Continue reading

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