What Tory members think matters. Their party is in government. They select parliamentary candidates who go on to vote on legislation and become ministers, and they exert pressure on them through local Conservative associations. They are now electing the nation’s prime minister. So when evidence of racism is uncovered among their ranks, it should be regarded as a national scandal.
Recent polls conducted for Hope Not Hate by YouGov – which has a solid record when looking at party members – is horrifying. It found that 60% of Tory members believe Islam “is generally a threat to western civilisation”, with less than one in five dissenting; that 54% hold it to be “generally a threat to the British way of life”; and 43% do not want a Muslim as prime minister. Two-thirds believe the lie that parts of Britain are under sharia law; another 45% believe in the racist nonsense that there are no-go areas for non-Muslims; and 40% want to limit Britain’s Muslim population. Among the most chilling findings was that 42% believe “having people from a wide variety of racial and cultural backgrounds” has damaged British society, with just 39% dissenting.
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