Tories lost majority because of ‘absurdly presidential’ campaign - report
1 min read
The Conservatives lost their majority at the June general election because of their “absurdly presidential” campaign style, a post-mortem by the party has reportedly found.
The report, which consulted MPs, peers and campaign staff, argued Theresa May made a mistake by not showing cabinet ministers her entire manifesto before its publication, according to the Sunday Times.
Chair of the backbench 1922 committee Graham Brady and former cabinet minister Sir Eric Pickles undertook the investigation into why the campaign went wrong.
The report will also criticise the obscure leadership structure during the campaign, when it is published ahead of the Tory party conference.
Officials said it was unclear who was in charge of the operation, between Mrs May’s, top aides Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, consultant Sir Lynton Crosby, and campaign director Stephen Gilbert.
A source told the Sunday Times: “We had a manifesto that only three people had input into.
"We need a process in future that protects against that. In any campaign, the question of who is in charge should be clear. That was a problem this time around.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
