Tories ‘must deal with smaller parties’ to win again, says elections expert Curtice
A ‘fundamental shift’ means the Tories have to worry about Reform, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Sir John Curtice said.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Conservative Party must “think of strategies that enable them to deal with smaller parties” and avoid shifting to the right to counter growing support for Reform UK, an elections expert has said.
Sir John Curtice told a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference that a “fundamental shift in our politics” means the Tories have to worry about Reform, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
“In other words, there is no enemy to its right, quote unquote, or the more socially conservative end of the spectrum, but it’s got to be able to command from both sides,” Sir John said.
“The conservatives cannot now afford to ignore the smaller parties. For the time being, it looks like we’re much closer to multi-party politics. In the short run, major parties need to think of strategies that enable them to deal with smaller parties.”
He said the UK is moving closer to multi-party politics and that strategists need to work out how to deal with competing parties on either side.
Neither of them are particularly good politicians. They're very good in other respects
“The crucial message of 2024 is you cannot now afford to ignore the smaller parties,” he said.
He recalled the seven-way election debate earlier this year in which Penny Mordaunt and Angela Rayner spent time “arguing with each other and ignoring everybody else, as though everybody else in the room was irrelevant”.
One reason for low turnout in the general election was “two very boring leaders” standing for the Tories and Labour, he said.
“Neither of them are particularly good politicians. They’re very good in other respects,” he said.
He also said that Rishi Sunak’s decision to call an election for July 4 was “remarkable” and that the former prime minister threw away a potential legacy by not waiting for his legislation to phase out tobacco to pass.
It would have been in Mr Sunak’s “personal interest” to wait, Sir John said.
“He’d be remembered for having passed the legislation that meant basically tobacco smoke would disappear. That would be his legacy.
“Not bad, actually, more than most prime ministers could claim in the record books. And the decision to go early just seemed to have thrown it away.”