Boris Johnson’s best route to re-election is to focus on cultural issues in a ‘war on woke’, research suggests

Labour MPs more liberal than voters on social questions but closer to average views on economy

Just 5% of Tory MPs believe ‘there is one law for the rich and one for the poor’, compared to 73% of voters (AFP/Getty)

Boris Johnson’s best route to re-election could be to focus political debate on cultural issues, in a “war on woke”, new research has suggested.

Analysis of social and economic values found a deep disconnect between Tory MPs and the electorate on the economy, but a much closer alignment on issues like traditional values, law and order and tougher sentencing.

Conservative MPs’ views on business and the economy were way to the right, not only of the average voter but also of Tory supporters and members, the Ipsos Mori survey for the UK in a Changing Europe (UKCE) think tank found.

While 73 per cent of voters believe there is “one law for the rich and one for the poor”, the view is shared by just 5 per cent of Conservative MPs, compared to 71 per cent of Labour MPs and 92 per cent of Labour members.

Similarly, 66 per cent of the public – but just 5 per cent of Tory MPs – agree that “management will always try to get the better of employees if it gets the chance”. And 74 per cent of voters think that big business takes advantage of ordinary people, a view shared by 83 per cent of Labour MPs, 92 per cent of Labour members but just 18 per cent of Tory MPs.

On social issues, the survey found the position is reversed, with Labour MPs considerably more liberal than their own voters, and the electorate as a whole, on issues like capital punishment, censorship and teaching children to respect traditional British values and obey authority. On most of these issues, Tory MPs tended to be more liberal than the public and considerably less authoritarian than their own supporters and activists, but were still closer than their Labour rivals to the views of the average voter.

Some 50 per cent of the public supported the death penalty in the poll, compared to 31 per cent of Labour voters, 21 per cent of Tory MPs and none of the Labour MPs surveyed.

Asked whether young people showed sufficient respect for traditional values, 63 per cent of the public said no, compared to 44 per cent of Tory MPs but just 9 per cent of Labour MPs.

On law and order, the 70 per cent proportion of the public who support tougher sentencing was close to the 66 per cent of Tory MPs who agreed, but far from the 24 per cent figures among Labour MPs.

Notably, traditional Labour voters who switched to Conservatives in the 2019 general election tended to hold views which were to the left on the economy but strongly authoritarian on social issues.

Among Labour-to-Tory switchers, large majorities believed that there were different laws for the rich and poor (84 per cent), that big business takes advantage of ordinary people (81 per cent) and that management takes advantage of workers (78 per cent) – all views emphatically rejected by the party they backed in the election.

But the same switchers were to the right of Tory MPs on wanting more respect for traditional values (88 per cent), wanting children to obey authority (81 per cent), and stiffer sentences for criminal offences (85 per cent).

Launching the Mind the Values Gap report, UKCE deputy director Prof Tim Bale said: “If the economic downturn that many are forecasting can be persuasively blamed on Covid-19, and social and cultural values therefore remain at the forefront of political debate, then only one party – the Conservative Party – looks likely to benefit.

“No wonder some top Tories are said to be pressing the PM to launch a so-called ‘war on woke’.”

The think tank’s director, Prof Anand Menon, said: “The Labour and Conservative parties clearly have an interest in focussing political debates on very different issues. For the former, values are a way of holding their coalition together, while continuing to appeal to 2019 Labour-Tory switchers. For Labour, the focus must be on economic policy, not least given intra-party divisions on values issues.”

Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said that the survey suggested Mr Johnson’s administration will face a significant challenge if the coronavirus crisis results in public demand for economic redistribution.

“If a sense ‘there is one law for the rich and one for the poor’ begins to take hold, then the gap between Conservative Party people and voters could prove deeply problematic for the Johnson government,” said Prof Cowley.