Tory grandee urges against lurch to the extreme right

Chris Patten wades in as battle for party leadership begins

- DAVID MADDOX

The Conservative Party needs to avoid a lurch to the “extreme right” as it tries to rebuild itself from its worst ever defeat, a former party chair has warned. Chris Patten, who was chair for the successful 1992 general election campaign where he also losthis seat, has raised concerns that the Tories will try to ape Nigel Farage as it seeks to win back supporters.

Writing for The Independent, the Tory grandee, who was also Britain’s last governor of Hong Kong, labelled two of the potential contenders Priti Patel and Suella Braverman as “extreme right” and described Farage as “Tommy Robinson in a cravat” as he urged for the party to take time over its reset.

The article has had a sharp response from Mr Farage who told The Independent: “No doubt Lord Patten has the same contempt for Reform UK voters and Brexiteers.” An ally of Ms Braverman has labelled the former Tory chair as “divisive”. Ms Braverman has recently made headlines attacking fellow Tories as not being Conservatives and claiming the progress pride flag for LGBT+ support represents “child mutilation”.

Lord Patten witnessed the last collapse of the Conservative Party after the 1992 election, which led to a huge defeat in 1997 and left the party out of power for 13 years.

Blaming the civil war that has gripped the Tories over Brexit, he noted that it was “not new for the Conservative Party to lose its way in fratricidal rows”.