91
votes
Why are UK MPs targeting the prime minister and not the deal?
Brexit is a submarine made out of cheese. Nobody sane at all thinks there is a good Brexit deal to be had. (Every proposed "good Brexit deal" uniformly assumes they can dictate terms to the EU; that ...
- 1,356
63
votes
Accepted
Why does the Scottish National Party object to being called nationalist?
Nationalism today is mostly associated with ethnic nationalism, which the SNP as a center-left party does not wish to be associated with.
Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the SNP, has expressed ...
- 32.3k
51
votes
Accepted
If the conservative party is so divided on the (right now) most important topic, why are they not splitting courses?
A common answer to this is that the UK uses a "First Past the Post"(FPTP) voting system (where each individual MP is elected from a constituency election, where most votes wins), whereas the ...
- 20.2k
27
votes
Why are UK MPs targeting the prime minister and not the deal?
Theresa May isn't just being targeted over Brexit, though.
May called snap elections in 2017, in a bid to strengthen her hand. Instead, she lost seats and had to form a minority government propped up ...
- 37.5k
25
votes
Accepted
In the UK Conservative party, what happens when a vote of no confidence in the leader fails?
Under current Conservative Party rules, she remains leader, and cannot be subject to a party confidence vote for another year.
Being a party matter, none of this affects any parliamentary vote of no ...
- 10.7k
24
votes
What if nobody wants the job as leader of the UK Conservative Party?
Conservative party rules require that the Leader is an MP. The party's constitution only requires that "There shall be a Leader of the Party, drawn from the Members of Parliament" It doesn't give any ...
- 92.1k
20
votes
Why are UK MPs targeting the prime minister and not the deal?
The PM has played this disastrously and is now under fire from at least three sources of opposition:
the so-called "ERG", who believe that her deal is bad because it's not Brexity enough. They claim ...
- 21.3k
18
votes
Who will lead the country until there is a new Tory leader?
She resigned as the conservative party leader effective June 7th. That will lead to a new prime minister in due course, since her successor in the party role would presumably want to become the new ...
- 78k
17
votes
If the conservative party is so divided on the (right now) most important topic, why are they not splitting courses?
Splintering is death.
The FPTP system guarantees that if two broadly similar parties run candidates in the same seats, they will both be defeated. Effectively the only way that different parties can ...
- 21.3k
16
votes
Accepted
Conservative Party UK - House building paradox
The government doesn't build houses itself, it just provides the market conditions for private developers to build more houses themselves. Their justification is that the housing market is 'broken', ...
CDJB♦
- 80.3k
15
votes
What did Boris Johnson mean when he said "extra 34 billion going into the NHS"
It means exactly what the words say. There is a plan. Plans don't cost anything much to produce. All you need is a computer running MS Office, and in half an hour you are done.
Whether the plan will ...
- 2,214
14
votes
Why are UK MPs targeting the prime minister and not the deal?
No-one in the Commons is unaware that any other PM would face the same Brexit challenges, to much the same outcome; but this is about a more important long-term principle than that.
To add to others' ...
- 2,149
13
votes
Accepted
Why did the Conservatives yield the Speaker chair?
The tradition of alternating parties is often mentioned, but is not really true. As Wikipedia's list of Speakers shows, it was broken most recently in 2000 when Michael Martin followed Betty Boothroyd ...
- 10.7k
12
votes
Accepted
What public statements has Theresa May made regarding fox hunting?
Theresa May voted against the ban on fox hunting in 2005 and on previous occasions. She has declared that she is personally in favour of fox hunting
“This is a situation on which individuals will ...
- 92.1k
11
votes
What if nobody wants the job as leader of the UK Conservative Party?
The Prime Minister is appointed by the Queen on the recommendation of the outgoing PM. Under normal circumstances, this is relatively straightforward: it's the leader of the party which, alone or in a ...
- 10.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Who will lead the country until there is a new Tory leader?
She will almost certainly remain as interim leader of both the Conservative Party and the Government until the new leader is appointed, as David Cameron did in 2016.
Note that the two roles are ...
- 484
10
votes
Accepted
Which Tory MPs have called for Dominic Cummings' resignation?
The PoliticsHome website is maintaining a list of Conservative MPs who have "condemned" Dominic Cummings. At the time of writing, it lists more than 40 who have said Cummings's position is untenable, ...
- 4,746
9
votes
Accepted
Have any of the "hard Brexit" Tories who voted against May's Withdrawal Agreement in late March stepped forward to be PM?
No. The following people have declared to stand:
Michael Gove, Matt Hancock, Jeremy Hunt, Boris Johnson, Andrea Leadsom, Esther McVey, Dominic Raab, Rory Stewart, Sajid Javid, Mark Harper, James ...
JJJ♦
- 36.8k
9
votes
What do Tory leadership candidates hope to gain by saying they will renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement?
They hope to convince Conservative MPs and members that they have a chance to convince some of the electorate who intend to vote for a Brexit party candidate to vote for a conservative candidate ...
- 8,553
9
votes
Accepted
Haven't the DUP violated their confidence-and-supply arrangement?
Technically yes, but the agreement has been in question since November last year, when the DUP abstained on a Finance Bill, to indicate their displeasure with (then) May's Brexit approach.
The DUP ...
- 102k
8
votes
Why are the conservatives opposed to the DUP?
The DUP hold extremely socially conservative views that are not shared by the majority of the British electorate
They are extremely socially conservative
They are against LGBT rights
The former ...
- 8,307
8
votes
Accepted
What are the key differences between a confidence and supply deal compared to a formal coalition?
This is the UK, so of course there is no formal rule, but based on the 2010 coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, we would expect a full formal coalition to produce a ...
- 20.2k
7
votes
Accepted
Would a DUP-Conservative alliance breach the Good Friday Agreement?
The Good Friday Agreement requires "rigorous impartiality" by the UK government, so it can arbitrate between parties in Northern Ireland. A UK government which depends on one of those parties for its ...
- 11.3k
6
votes
Accepted
What are the consequences of MP's resigning from Government
The short answer is that such threats suggest wider party disapproval over government policy. In principle Mrs May could ignore them, (indeed, more so that most Prime Ministers, having just won a ...
- 20.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Does the UK electorate become more likely to vote conservative with age?
Yes.
The UK has a secret ballot, so it's impossible to get "hard evidence" of how everyone actually voted. The best you can do is ask a representative subset of voters, as YouGov did. High quality ...
- 11.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Who becomes Conservative Acting Leader in the event of the Leader's death or incapacitation?
Although the title of Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party has been applied to politicians in the past, the party currently has no deputy leadership position, and this is confirmed by the party's ...
CDJB♦
- 80.3k
5
votes
What are some examples of Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party
Some more examples (in addition to those listed by James); headlines are put in bold and quotes from the main article are put in italic:
The Sun reported on 31st of May 2018:
Title: Tory candidate ...
JJJ♦
- 36.8k
5
votes
What mischief could be caused by joining a political party in bulk?
Like other British political parties, the Conservative and Unionist Party publish (and update) party rules, in their case branded as a Constitution. Any attempt to influence the party direction from ...
- 20.2k
5
votes
Accepted
What criteria need to be met to become a Conservative MP Candidate in the UK?
While anyone meeting the criteria to be an MP (be over 18 and a UK, Irish or Commonwealth citizen and not be otherwise disqualified) can run for election in a constituency by collecting enough ...
- 20.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible