Tories must oust Sunak now to minimise general election defeat | Tim Montgomerie

yeah I think it is time for the Cod to roll the dice and and get rid of him because really another prime minister this is who could do any better isn't it just that the Kathy this isn't a midterm election we are at the end of the parliament and by now you would expect a beginning of signs of recovery you he's been prime minister for 18 months he's been focused on those Famous Five pledges and yet if you look at for example the swing in Blackpool South if anything if anything is getting worse so joining me to dissect the political scene so far in a moment we'll speak to Tim Montgomery political commentator and founder of conservative home but first let's get the latest from times radio senior political correspondent Patrick Maguire uh Patrick your latest analysis I know you've been sitting here um unearthing every single result what's your latest thoughts it's just the scale of the devastation that's been wrought by upon the conservative party you know just looking at the odd bits and pieces that filter out over the course of the day for instance there are no conservative MP left in chelham chelham bar you know one of the jewels in the crown of uh of middle England the Tories have been reduced to seven councils in the southeast of England these are what we would traditionally know as I know this is Dreadful cliche in politics but these are the what if the conservative part isn't for these places and voters in these places middle the the backbone of middle England aren't voting for the conservative party then what what what electoral future does the conservative party have I think that's a question uh worth asking today I know at the depth of the government's uh popularity and and the other the other thing I've noticed and this is a second order question it's not going to stop labor getting into government because it's localized and Leadership of the labor party think only four parliamentary seats are affected by this but the the sharpness of the Swing against labor in seats with uh big Muslim populations is also really striking you look at seats in places like Blackburn in Bolton in Ro um Rochdale where George Galloway's party has won a couple of seats in old B where labor have lost control of the council didn't take control in Bolton either but those are seats with safe labor majorities aren't they so come general election well come come general election look it'll it'll be difficult for the labor party but it's more a problem that's being stored up for labor time in government and it shows also that labor aren't immune to challenges from their left you know seen the greens do very well as well so that it's a second order consideration it tells the the direction the left is going in and it may be similar to the direction the right has already him which is to say you have a more radical Challenger to your outermost flank and uh ready to pounce on any perceived betrayal Patrick thanks very much for now um let's turn to Tim Montgomery then political commentator and founder of conservative home a bad night for the conservatives or cataclysmic catastrophic certainly and even the result that has supposedly been the one Saving Grace for the conservative party the uh T Valley meraly that was a victory one despite the fact there wasn't a reformed candidate running in that race and the swing against Ben hin wasn't big enough to dislodge him but it would have dislodged all the conservative MPS in that area so if the conservative party are holding on to that result as the thing to you know say we're on course well they really are deluding themselves and um I I don't know really how much worse it could get we were expecting it of course and perhaps that's um that's why I think there is a feeling of resignation amongst the conservative MPS that I've been speaking to they they're not happy they know it's bad but they're sort of a loss to know what to do but not the resignation of the prime minister so um I mean is that has he just put off um being toppled or is he now safe until the general election whenever that might be well if there is no move against him in the next 48 72 hours I think he probably is safe this is the this is the last um moment I think for conservative MPS to move and and I think I'm a minority I think it is time for the coda party to roll the dice and and get rid of him because really another prime minister well this is who could do any better isn't it just that the Kathy this isn't a midterm election we are at the end of the parliament and by now you would expect a beginning of signs of recovery you he's been prime minister for 18 months he's been focused on those Famous Five pledges and yet if you look at for example the swing in Blackpool South if anything if anything it's getting worse carrying on this same course seems to me to be Madness I agree with the what I think is behind your question isn't the other course mad as well well no no no I was going to make a point that hasn't the electorate just simply lost faith with the conservatives doesn't matter who's going to lead them now it is just that whole cliche time for a change and so it you know it might as well be rishy who takes them into the election well if you're asking me can the conservative party win the next election from this point the answer is definitely no this is the point this is about minimizing losses it's about being semi competitive and it's basic sort of political failure on Richi Sak's part I don't know what it stands for I follow politics incredibly closely I don't know what he'd do with the majority we haven't um Define labor what's the cost of voting labor we haven't succeeded in doing that we announc things one day expect a movement in the opinion polls nothing happens and we move on to something else there isn't apart from stopping the boats a sustained campaign message so while I think it would be a dangerous road to change leader I think it's at least at least as dangerous as sticking to this course but I think I'm uh I'm in a minority view of my party Lisa's just whatsapped in saying I'd like to ask him Montgomery whether he thinks that a contributing factor to the Tory collapse is the fact that Rishi sunak is appalling at politics absolutely he doesn't do he's a decent man a good man but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to connect with the electric for me he's someone who's like what's political drama on the television and sort of seen how politician political actors political and he's sort of he's an AI version of himself he almost is yeah our first AI prime minister and um it's just not it's only a matter of time it's just not working but you know if David Cameron was in the House of Commons I think we would have had a change of Leader by now David Cameron would have been installed back as prime minister but he isn't and because there isn't an obvious successor Rak probably will survive now well who of those contenders sort of jostling you know schnaps with shaps and so on and Penny Moran saying you you can't just staller like a boiler in number 10 I mean who would minimize those losses uh Penny Moren I think is probably the person that Tori MPS would most go for um but during the brexit campaign you may remember Kathy if she came under sort of pretty intense scrutiny during that campaign and didn't necessarily perform that well so what I'm certainly not saying is that there are risk-free options for the conservative party now they're all choices of lesser evils and bring back Boris well I don't think you could bring back Boris I don't know how you get him back now so leine Doris will have to remain disappointed that we don't have Boris Johnson as toy leader Tim Montgomery political commentator founder conservative home thank you very much and before that Patrick Maguire e for

Channel: Times Radio

Views: 34,623

Keywords: local elections, tories, elections, uk local elections, local elections 2023, local election, local elections uk, local elections 2022, local election results, local council elections, uk elections, local body election, local elections latest, 2023 local elections, local elections news, england local elections, uk local election, election, local election news, local election candidates, general election, boris johnson, how to vote in local elections

Id: FiGRcrqsqyg

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024