More evidence today of Tory candidates' views: a staggering 91 per cent of Conservative PPCs and 73 per cent of MPs do not believe in man made climate change.
Following our story this morning about the outdated views of Tory members – obsessed with immigration, crime and tax cuts – comes evidence that Tory candidates are equally regressive. A staggering 91 per cent of Conservative PPCs and 73 per cent of MPs do not believe in man made climate change.
The results are revealed in today’s Times, and come from a Populus survey of 36 Tory MPs and 34 Tory candidates in winnable seats. Of those, 84 per cent of the MPs and 48 per cent of the PPCs think multiculturalism is bad.
A seperate poll for the paper, of 100 candidates in winnables, shows Lady Thatcher to be the “runaway first choice as hero”, followed by Churchill – echoing the findings a poll in today’s New Statesman, which found 34 per cent of Tory PPCs regarded her as their political hero – nearly seven times as many as those who said Nelson Mandela.
The Statesman poll also revealed that more Tory PPCs regard Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Peter Mandelson to be worse villains than Hitler, a fifth support the reintroduction of the death penalty and only 28 per cent believe the next government should “legislate to make people behave in an environmentally ‘greener’ way”.
38 Responses to “Vote blue go blue: Survey reveals 91% of Tory PPCs and 73% of MPs are climate sceptics”
Gregory Norminton
If they only inhabit the right-wing echo chambers – The Spectator, The Telegraph – it’s little wonder that they should be such scientific ignoramuses. I’m not a Tory but it is desperately important that Anglo-Saxon conservatism gets real about global warming. In the United States, Canada and Australia, antiscience bigotry is now the mainstream position amongst conservatives. It looks likely that – with the exception of a few front-benchers – the Tories in the UK are as blinkered as their counterparts abroad.
This ideological aversion to facts isn’t shared by the German or French centre-right. Conservatism ought to be able to accommodate itself to the ideas of wise resource use and conservation. If we are to have any chance of averting catastrophic climate change, we need this ‘issue’ – which encompasses all others – to lose its partisan colouring and become a central concern of all parts of the political spectrum.
Will Cameron have the guts to tell his party to face up to reality? Or will he throw them a bone on this, as he has on Europe?
God help us come election day.
keith ridgway
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PJ Crittenden
RT @kthrdgwy: If you were by any chance looking for more reasons not to vote Tory … http://bit.ly/aUUyvp
paulwmk
RT @leftfootfwd: Vote blue go blue: Survey reveals 91% of Tory PPCs and 73% of MPs are climate sceptics http://cli.gs/sd61s
Joe Anderson
RT @paulwmk: RT @leftfootfwd: Vote blue go blue: Survey reveals 91% of Tory PPCs and 73% of MPs are climate sceptics http://cli.gs/sd61s