The Tory leadership contest: "I don't know a single person who is even interested in the result"

With the race to be Leader of the Opposition now down to the final two, we asked Mumsnet users who they'd prefer as Prime Minister: Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick? ?Despite worries about the Labour government's teething troubles, it seems the current PM is safe in his job for now with more than half of Mumsnet users (52%) telling us they'd rather have him in the role than either of the Conservative competitors. ?19% plumped for Kemi Badenoch (who was level with 'don't know'), and just 11% say they'd prefer Robert Jenrick.

Tellingly, there's not much conversation on site about the contest - and where there is it tends to be negative. ?Robert Jenrick is principally remembered as the man who ordered the painting over of murals for kids in an asylum centre, and has drawn most attention to himself during the contest with his controversial comments about the ECHR forcing Special Forces to kill rather than capture terrorists:?

This guy wants to be leader of the tory party and has basically shamed our soldiers with no evidence all because he wants out of the ECHR.?

Robert Jenrick was the man who ordered cheerful murals in an asylum centre for children painted over because they were 'too welcoming'. If anyone thinks he's right about anything at all, give your head a wobble.

Mumsnet users were equally scornful about Kemi Badenoch's comments on maternity leave (and paid little attention to her efforts to walk them back):

A certain brand of conservative seems to be emerging that does not understand economics. Birth rates are falling in a way that concerns government officials and making it financially harder for women to have babies will not help that situation.

She didn't actually take maternity leave herself, she resigned instead because she didn't feel it was fair for her employer to fund it. Okay fine, if you want to do that and have a well paid partner. But it is f*cking batsh*t to think that maternity leave is to generous and not to understand that if you don't fund it then women are even more vulnerable than they already are and the birthrate will fall even further

And many parents of children with autism were furious about the comments in Kemi Badenoch's ?Conservatism in Crisis pamphlet:

DS1 was one who got the "privilege" of a taxi to school - he also got the "privilege" of a 50 mile commute to school every day because this was the closest school that could meet his needs. Like Ms Badenoch I would have preferred him to walk to school like his former classmates but unless she is proposing to create more specialist schools or differently run mainstream schools this is not going to happen for kids like my ds.

?Unless you’ve lived though it or are close to someone who has I don’t think you realise how sh*te the whole Sen system is with having to fight for everything, tribunals taking years, parents being expected to drop everything and give up work etc. Before being involved in this world I genuinely just thought that if an autistic child needed help like at a at school then they somehow just got that, not that their parent had to go to court to get an order for it to happen potentially taking years.?

I bet she has never even spoken to a family about their experiences of services either.

?Ultimately, many users view the contest as an irrelevance, believing it's unlikely that either contender will still be leading the Conservative Party by the time of the next election:

?Pretty standard for the trounced opposition to go through a couple of complete duds as leaders while they regroup. There's no point expecting any real contenders for a good few years.

Survey of 1494 Mumsnet users, October 2024