Defeat and defection: Tories are down bad
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The longer the Conservatives hang on, the worse it gets. Last week Rishi Sunak lost 474 councillors, the constituency of Blackpool south, and Andy Street’s West Midlands mayoral. And yesterday things went from bad to worse for Sunak with a surprise defection to Labour from Natalie Elphicke MP for Dover and Deal.
The Conservatives can’t seem to escape this endless decline in support and popularity. So when did it all start to go wrong, and can they stop the train before it completely derails?
Freddie Hayward, political correspondent, is joined in the studio by Rachel Cunliffe, associate political editor, and George Eaton, senior editor.
Read: The Tory doomscroll
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Transcript
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| 1:05.0 | The new statesman. The longer the Conservatives hang on, the worse it gets. |
| 1:10.0 | Last week Ritchie Sienak lost 474 Councillors, Blackpool South, and Andy Street's |
| 1:16.0 | West Midlands Merlety. And yesterday things went from bad to worse for Suneck, with a surprised |
| 1:21.4 | affection to labour from Natalie Elphick, MP for Dover and Deal. |
| 1:25.6 | The Conservatives can't seem to escape this endless decline in support and popularity. |
| 1:30.3 | So when did it all start to go wrong? |
| 1:32.3 | And can they stop the train before it completely derails? Hello, I'm Freddie Haywood, political correspondent at The New Statesman, and you're listening to the New Statesman podcast. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm very pleased to be joined today by my colleagues Rachel Kunliff, Associate Political Editor, |
| 1:54.4 | and George Eton, Senior Editor. |
| 1:56.4 | Rachel, you've written this week's cover story, The Tory Doom scroll, which goes inside the |
| 2:01.2 | parties' woes in the aftermath of the locals. |
| 2:03.3 | Tell us about it, what did you find? |
... |
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