Conservative Party Chairman, Greg Hands, was laughed at by polling guru Sir John Curtice for claiming his party’s 495-vote victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip was a “’standout result”
“There’s always a risk for a political party when it decides to focus on the result for it that is rather good and decides to try to steer away from those which are not so good that it fails to be honest with itself and therefore fails to pick up the message,” he said.
Sir John said the Conservative vote share fell on average by 21 points across the three constituencies, which is similar to the party’s 18-point drop in the national polls. “The message on Thursday is that basically the Conservatives are indeed as deep in an electoral hole as the opinion polls have been suggesting,” he continued.
He added that he was “chuckling” during Mr Hands’s interview about the fact that “politicians in a slightly difficult position leap on what they think is the weakness of their opponents”. “The advice to the Conservatives is to be honest with yourself, and don’t necessarily assume that because one of your opponents does badly in any constituency while the other one does well, that this is necessarily good news for you,” Sir John said.
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