The four leadership candidates strutted around Birmingham last week like celebrities, but members seem unimpressed – and MPs think whoever wins might not even last until the next election. How do the Conservatives move forward?
Rather than feeling the pain of loss, many of those who attended the Conservative party conference in Birmingham last week said they felt another overriding emotion in the aftermath of July’s cataclysmic general election defeat: one of overwhelming relief.
“To be honest it feels like a weight off my shoulders,” said a senior MP who narrowly retained his seat. “We knew for two years we were going to lose, so it wasn’t exactly a shock. Now I don’t have to spend all my time answering emails from constituents complaining about all the dreadful mistakes we were making in government.”
