Ex-Conservative deputy blasts Theresa May for local elections ‘sh*t-show’ and says the Brexit Party ‘tsunami’ of support could see the new party sweep Tories to the side
- Robert Halfon attacked the sacking of Gavin Williamson before the local election
- Harlow MP said failing to leave the EU on March 29 had done ‘untold damage’
- Warned the party faced a ‘1997-type defeat (without) radical changes’
A former minister has warning that the Tories face a disaster of 1997 proportions unless the party gets its act together fast.
Robert Halfon, a former party deputy chairman, lashed out after what he said had been a local elections ‘sh*t-show’ where the Conservatives lost more than 1,300 council seats.
He warned that Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party were a ‘tsunami in terms of political disruption’ and if had taken part the Toroies might have lost twice as many.
The former skills minister also blasted the Prime Minister’s decision to sack Gavin Williamson as defence secretary the day before the vote, branding it ‘incomprehensible’ in an article for Conservative Home.
The Harlow MP said that failing to leave the EU on March 29 had done the party ‘untold damage’ and unleashed ‘a tidal wave of anger’.
He said: ‘Our failure to deliver Brexit, broken promises to properly address burning social injustices, our continued Party disunity and a lack of strong leadership brought about this disaster.’
Robert Halfon said the Prime Minister’s (pictured today) decision to sack Gavin Williamson as defence secretary the day before the local elections was ‘incomprehensible’
The former skills minister said: ‘We are heading towards a 1997-type defeat unless we make fundamental and radical changes’
He added: ‘We are heading towards a 1997-type defeat unless we make fundamental and radical changes to our Party machinery and to our policies and deliver, as instructed, a good Brexit.’
The Conservatives fear another drubbing at the European election on May 23, now that it has been confirmed that the UK will be taking part.
Mr Farage’s Brexit Party is currently way ahead in the polls, with both the Tories and Labour struggling to make headway with a fed-up public.
Mr Halfon warned: ‘The new Brexit Party represents a tsunami in terms of political disruption.
‘If their candidates had been standing in the local elections, the Conservatives would have probably lost double the number of councillors.
‘This Brexit Party is not the UKIP Party of old. Nigel Farage has matured, and has some serious and credible Euro-Parliamentary candidates.
‘In just a couple of weeks, they have 85,000 paying members. In a few months, as things stand, they will probably leapfrog over our membership numbers.’
If they stand at the general election and we haven’t left the EU – or there is a second referendum – the chances of change in Westminster is huge.’