Next PM??

[jbm4pres]

Assuming the Conservatives remain in power and Theresa May is forced out who will be her replacement? Boris Johnson? Someone else? Who?

[Suburbia]

May, she can cajole her members into keeping her, but she won't be there for long.

If not, Boris Johnson, dark horse Priti Patel, or Jeremy Corbyn (Labour).

[KingSweden]

ABB (Anyone But Boris)

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Priti Patel.

[windjammer]

ABB (Anyone But Boris)

[Paleobrazilian]

David Davis.

[mvd10]

Philip Hammond maybe? I imagine the free market Tories will be pissed off with May. They probably accepted her leftish rhetoric on economic issues when she still was winning but it might be a different story now she lost the majority. And Hammond looks like a classic Thatcherite to me.

[Horus]

Hopefully David Davis, but I think they'll try for Patel first.

[Zinneke]

Ruth Davidson

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Philip Hammond maybe? I imagine the free market Tories will be pissed off with May. They probably accepted her leftish rhetoric on economic issues when she still was winning but it might be a different story now she lost the majority. And Hammond looks like a classic Thatcherite to me.

Why would an upset loss-of-majority to Jeremy Corbyn induce the Tories to move right on political economy?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

David Davis more likely

apparantly he's getting a lot of beind the scenes blame.

I would say Rudd, but her narrow win may cause her to be weakened.

[Zinneke]

David Davis more likely

apparantly he's getting a lot of beind the scenes blame.

I would say Rudd, but her narrow win may cause her to be weakened.

Isn't Rudd one of the few high profile ''Mayites'' in the Tory party. Surely she shares the blame too.

[Grand Wizard Lizard of the Klan]

Good jokes with that Patel option.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

David Davis more likely

apparantly he's getting a lot of beind the scenes blame.

I would say Rudd, but her narrow win may cause her to be weakened.

Isn't Rudd one of the few high profile ''Mayites'' in the Tory party. Surely she shares the blame too.

the perception was that Rudd was doing a relatively admirable and thankless job of being a proxy.

She certainly has conducted herself better tham Hammond, whose Chancellorship has been the least visible since Howe's and had two lousy budgets; BoJo who is a ludicrous figure even amongst Tory MP's; the various Thatcher wannabes like Javid and Patil etc. Perhaps it will be a backbencher = the current cabinet is a bit weedy imo.

[parochial boy]

If Patel or Javid is the next PM, then the subsequent one will almost certainly be Corbyn.

Both of them resemble cartoon villains far too much to be viable options in an election.

[Klartext89]

ABC - anyone but Corbyn.

[mvd10]

Philip Hammond maybe? I imagine the free market Tories will be pissed off with May. They probably accepted her leftish rhetoric on economic issues when she still was winning but it might be a different story now she lost the majority. And Hammond looks like a classic Thatcherite to me.

Why would an upset loss-of-majority to Jeremy Corbyn induce the Tories to move right on political economy?

Because May tried to move to the left on economic issues and it didn't really work out. The Tory Right might have accepted stuff like the energy price cap when May still was projected to win a 100 seat majority but I'm not sure whether they'll accept May's relatively left-wing positions on some economic issues now.

[Nyvin]

Philip Hammond maybe? I imagine the free market Tories will be pissed off with May. They probably accepted her leftish rhetoric on economic issues when she still was winning but it might be a different story now she lost the majority. And Hammond looks like a classic Thatcherite to me.

Why would an upset loss-of-majority to Jeremy Corbyn induce the Tories to move right on political economy?

Because May tried to move to the left on economic issues and it didn't really work out. The Tory Right might have accepted stuff like the energy price cap when May still was projected to win a 100 seat majority but I'm not sure whether they'll accept May's relatively left-wing positions on some economic issues now.

The right wing party loses to Jeremy Corbyn...Ruth Davidson, a moderate, saved their majority, and their response should be....Move to the Right!

What could possibly go wrong?  

[IceAgeComing]

It ought to be noted that the turning point of the campaign was the manifesto leak, when the thing that everyone was talking about wasn't the energy price cap or any of the things where they'd moved away from the liberal position, but... the dementia tax; which is old fashioned Thatcherism at its worst.

[Donerail]

Nigel Dodds

[IceAgeComing]

Ian Paisley Jr, surely?

[mvd10]

Philip Hammond maybe? I imagine the free market Tories will be pissed off with May. They probably accepted her leftish rhetoric on economic issues when she still was winning but it might be a different story now she lost the majority. And Hammond looks like a classic Thatcherite to me.

Why would an upset loss-of-majority to Jeremy Corbyn induce the Tories to move right on political economy?

Because May tried to move to the left on economic issues and it didn't really work out. The Tory Right might have accepted stuff like the energy price cap when May still was projected to win a 100 seat majority but I'm not sure whether they'll accept May's relatively left-wing positions on some economic issues now.

The right wing party loses to Jeremy Corbyn...Ruth Davidson, a moderate, saved their majority, and their response should be....Move to the Right!

What could possibly go wrong?  

I'm not saying they should move to the right btw, I just said that it's pretty likely the next Tory leader (if May is ousted) won't turn to the left on economic issues. And I wouldn't be surprised if people like Davidson and Cameron are to the right of May on economic issues. May is really right-wing on immigration and the EU, but she's pretty left-wing on economic issues (atleast her rhetoric is). This lost her a lot of votes in places like Kensington. The more economically libertarian Tories accepted May's rhetoric on workers' rights and energy prices as long as she kept winning. But it's pretty clear that May's approach didn't work, so why would the Tories even support adding more workers' rights and freezing energy prices if those policies violate their beliefs and didn't win them any more seats?

And moving to the left didn't exactly hurt the Labour party btw, even though I don't think Corbyn ever will be PM.

[IceAgeComing]

The key thing in London has probably been Europe rather than economics - there's been a remarkable increase in turnout and swings have been very high in inner London - 10% in Battersea for example.  It does seem a bit silly to be blaming them from moving left when the only people directly gaining in central London are Labour...

[parochial boy]

The key thing in London has probably been Europe rather than economics - there's been a remarkable increase in turnout and swings have been very high in inner London - 10% in Battersea for example.  It does seem a bit silly to be blaming them from moving left when the only people directly gaining in central London are Labour...

Not just Brexit, Battersea is sort of emblematic of the kind of place that has a lot of young, university educated voters (I mean, ever been to Clapham?) who are dealing with student debt and now have to bear the brunt of the housing crisis.

These are the kinds of people who would theoretically be the Conservatives core vote in 15 years, and the Tories are going to have to move to the left on certain issues (housing and tuition fees especially) if they don't want to lose them permanently.

[DavidB.]

I'm not saying they should move to the right btw, I just said that it's pretty likely the next Tory leader (if May is ousted) won't turn to the left on economic issues. And I wouldn't be surprised if people like Davidson and Cameron are to the right of May on economic issues. May is really right-wing on immigration and the EU, but she's pretty left-wing on economic issues (atleast her rhetoric is). This lost her a lot of votes in places like Kensington. The more economically libertarian Tories accepted May's rhetoric on workers' rights and energy prices as long as she kept winning. But it's pretty clear that May's approach didn't work, so why would the Tories even support adding more workers' rights and freezing energy prices if those policies violate their beliefs and didn't win them any more seats?

And moving to the left didn't exactly hurt the Labour party btw, even though I don't think Corbyn ever will be PM.

So according to you, voters in Kensington were so displeased with May's economic turn to the left that they voted for the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn? Sounds really implausible to me. Victoria Borwick, the incumbent Tory MP in Kensington (69% Remain), being a Brexiteer + the general anti-Tory trend in London have been much more important, I think.

I would also not overstate May's turn to the left. I thought it was real, but the manifesto didn't really show it. This has also been one of the reasons that the Conservatives failed to attract a larger number of former UKIP voters: many went back to Labour instead because of the Tories' right-wing manifesto. I would argue the Tories should have turned to the left economically much more than they did.