There are many people in the Conservative Party bitterly opposed to the party’s lurch to the right and the growing influence of the radical right. It is just that few will currently vocalise their unhappiness.
One leading Conservative Party member has told HOPE not hate that he predicts that only about 100 of the party’s 354 MPs could be considered to be social conservatives or radical right. However, they, and the wider radical right eco-system, have a significant influence on the party as a
whole.
Fear of attack or even political retribution is forcing many moderate Conservatives into silence.
A few, however, are speaking up.
Bob Neill, a Conservative MP and chair of the justice select committee, told the Times that Braverman’s rhetoric was “excessive and unhelpful”. Tobias Ellwood MP, shared similar concerns. “We’ve earned our permanent seat on the United Nations security council because we’ve helped shape international law. We actually support it, we advance it. What we don’t do is then run roughshod through it,” Ellwood told ITV’s Peston programme.
He went on: “I distance myself from some of those
comments.”
Peers Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, and Danny Finkelstein have both publicly criticised London Mayoral candidate Susan Hall for her claim that Jews in London were living in fear of Sadiq Khan.
These sentiments were echoed by Government Minister Nusrat Ghani, who told a British Future fringe that said Conservatives should not “stoop” to using the “language of fear and demeaning our political opponents”.
Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi, has repeatedly criticised Braverman of engaging in “racist rhetoric” and urged the Prime Minister to take action.
“I do not believe Sunak shares Braverman’s extreme views.
“But as head of the party, the responsibility stops with him. As the first prime minister from an ethnic minority background, he should not want to be remembered for presiding over a government that engaged in racist rhetoric.”
