Stop calling us ‘swivel-eyed loons’ – Tory members are decent people

Conservative Party members aren’t excited about the two leadership candidates either, but that’s not our fault, writes Salma Shah

The members didn’t make up the rules and bear no responsibility for the constitutional arrangements of the country (PA)

Conservative Party members are used to being derided. We’re unfairly labelled as uncaring, self-serving hardliners whose main aim in life is to save ourselves some tax and look for more creative ways to make life worse for those less well-off. For some reason, we’re fair game for other people’s misplaced vitriol.

The current leadership contest has exacerbated this ire. In so many conversations up and down the country, the unfairness of this self-selecting group getting to decide the next PM is bemoaned as unfair and undemocratic, and party members characterised as “living on another planet”, immune to the things that matter.

Sorry, but the members didn’t make up the rules and bear no responsibility for the constitutional arrangements of the country. They are however now faced with the huge burden of responsibility to choose someone who is going to lead the nation through some of the most difficult challenges we’ve faced for decades.