‘Grow up’: Former Conservative Party chairman Chris Patten sends warning to the Tories
In an exclusive interview with The News Agents, former Tory Party Chairman Chris Patten tells Emily Maitlis the Conservatives are moving in the wrong direction.
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In brief…
- Lord Chris Patten was Britain’s last Governor of Hong Kong and Tory party chairman in the 1990s.
- He is not particularly enthused by any candidate in the party leadership contest.
- The Conservatives are becoming “ideologically burdened” by veering to the right, he told Emily Maitlis on The News Agents.
Lord Patten was the Conservative Party Chairman under John Major between 1990 and 1992.
He may know a thing or two about winning an election, being widely accredited with helping Major race to a surprise win in the 1992 general election. That is despite polls predicting him to lose to Labour by a landslide.
So as the Tory membership mulls over their next leader, The News Agents ask Patten what he thinks of it all.
“We’ve got to see a lot of growing up”
Initially, Patten would have backed Tom Tugendhat, who was previously seen as being on the moderate wing of the party.
But the shadow security minister appeared to be lurching to the right when called for Britain to pull out of the European Convention of Human Rights upon announcing his leadership bid, Patten says.
“I can't imagine why he thinks that he has to start now throwing some morsels of prejudice to the right in order to get elected”, he told Emily.
It shows there is a “danger” that the candidates will “simply position themselves according to whatever the latest tabloid headline has been", Patten argues.
He added: “We’ve got to see a lot of growing up. The electorate want competent government but also want a government which doesn't seem to be covered with ideological obsessions.”
“The more right wing it becomes, the more ideologically burdened it becomes”
Patten says the size of the Conservative Party membership has shrunk while becoming more right-wing at the same time.
According to the former party chairman, this rightward shift will do the party no favours.
He claimed that the further to the right it moves, the “more ideologically burdened” the party becomes.
“There is a difference between being a Conservative and being a nationalist populist”, Patten said.
He added: “The public are conservative in their views most of the time but don’t want a Faragist version of populism.
“If you look at this field of candidates and compare it with those who have led the Conservative Party…even Margaret Thatcher wouldn’t have had some of these people in her government.”
“I don’t feel enthused”
But not all leadership candidates are veering to the right, with James Cleverly waving the flag for the moderates.
Patten says Cleverly is “not a hugely exciting figure, but probably a stabilising figure”.
“I don’t feel enthused by some of those who are trying to become leader of a great party, the greatest and oldest Democratic Party in the West.”
“It will not be a great excitement”, he tells Emily