The final choice between the last two candidates of the Conservative Party, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, will be submitted in August by the suffrage of the 160,000 members of the movement, much more to the right than the country’s average.
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The ten candidates for the replacement of Boris Johnson on the starting list having been decreed by the 357 British conservative deputies, it is now for the 160,000 members of the Tory party to choose between the two finalists, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss : They have all August to do so, by postal vote. Who are these people, representing at most 0.35 % of the British electorate, whose decision engages the fate of a whole country?
Donators, municipal councilors, activists … According to a study carried out by the Queen Mary University of London, party members are 70 % of men, rather older (the fifties on average), and not representing the ethnic diversity of country. “They tend to be more radical, more to the right than the average of conservative voters – because they are convinced activists, ready to give money to the party”, underlines Chris Curtis, of the Institute of Opinium Research polls .
They are worried, for example, more immigration than climate change, “because 90 % of them will be died in 2050 [date on which the British government is committed to reaching neutrality Carbon] “, admitted, a few days ago, the conservative deputy Chris Skidmore, citing a Yougov survey according to which only 4 % of the members of the Conservative Party consider the national strategy to combat climate change as one of their three priorities.
bidding of candidates
“They are especially radical in economic matters, very in favor of tax cuts and very disadvantage of public spending, it is on these themes that they diverge the most of the Taries”, adds Chris Curtis. This is the reason why the candidates – with the notable exception of Rishi Sunak, the ex -chancellor of the chessboard of Boris Johnson – were overbidden in their promises of tax cuts, deemed largely unrealistic given the situation of the country (big financing needs of public services, in particular hospital, and galloping inflation).
On the other hand, the members of the party would not have a priori as for the genre – the conservative party has already given two ministers in the country (Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May) – or at the origin of the candidates – Mr. Sunak is of Indian origin. “They are perfectly ready to vote for a woman of color,” observes Michael Gove, former state minister of the Johnson government, who supported the candidacy of Kemi Badenoch, British of Nigerian origin to the end (she was eliminated, Tuesday 19 July).
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