The Tories in crisis. Our readers on where the party has gone wrong - and what they need to do to fix it

Boris Johnson's leadership has been plunged into a deeper crisis as the Conservative Party lost two crucial by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton on Thursday night, in the worst by-election defeat in British history.

Shortly after the bruising results, Oliver Dowden resigned as Tory chairman, saying in a letter to Boris Johnson that "someone must take responsibility".

A series of scandals engulfing No 10, including 'partygate' and a vote of confidence, have caused the Prime Minister's popularity to plummet to a near all-time-low, with a YouGov poll earlier this month indicating that 69 per cent of adults believe he is performing poorly.

The party was punished at the ballot box, as both by-elections were triggered in the wake of scandals involving former Tory MPs.

Neil Parish, the former MP for the Somerset constituency, resigned after being caught watching pornography in the House of Commons, while Imran Ahmad Khan resigned after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager.

Following the historic by-election defeat, we asked our readers why the Tories are getting it wrong and what they need to do to get it right. Read on to see what our readers think are the most critical issues and why.

Net zero

Readers are highly critical of the Government’s green agenda, with many arguing that it is one of the main factors fuelling inflation. Others suggest that Mr Johnson’s push for net zero goes against what they voted for and that he should instead suspend green levies to help ease the cost-of-living crisis.

@Geoffrey Thirlby:

"If you're an old Tory from the southern heartlands or a new Tory from the Red Wall seats, Boris Johnson is now a liability. He delivered a three-quarter-full Brexit, leaving Northern Ireland in limbo. He delivered on getting the Covid vaccine rolled out, but his ridiculous green agenda, the raising of taxes and his failure to foresee the current energy crisis by cutting back on natural gas production and storage prove he is not fit to be Prime Minister.

"I want a Tory Prime Minister who is a true Conservative, not a woke, green liberal. The whole party seems to be losing sight of what their electorate voted for."

@Marilyn Bradshaw:

"Boris Jonhson said he felt a greater weight of responsibility to deliver the priorities of the British people. He would first have to convince us that he has even the remotest idea of what those priorities are. There has been no evidence whatsoever of that during his time as Prime Minister.

"He has imposed green, woke, and ruinously expensive vanity projects on the country, and has now turned his attention to posturing and virtue signalling on the world stage, and adds insult to injury by taxing us to penury to pay for his excesses.

"This leopard isn't going to change its spots. The Conservative Party needs to change its leader."

@Jeremy Goodchild:

"Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have the ability to reduce taxes, suspend green levies and knock off VAT, but they refuse to. Even though it could help ease the high prices we are battling. My 92-year-old mother is spending nearly £100 a week to heat and light her home.

"Neither Sunak nor Johnson deserve to be in charge. True Conservatives like Iain Duncan Smith or John Redwood should replace them. It’ll be net-zero and illegal immigration that will bring Mr Johnson and the others down, not cake!"

High tax

Readers compared the Government’s tax policy to that of a Left-wing government, with many highlighting areas where they feel No 10 is wasting money, such as on foreign aid and the "over-inflated" civil service.

@Richard Long:

"The Tories have lost my support. Boris Johnson has turned the Conservatives into a Left-wing tax and spend, authoritarian, socialist party, very similar to New Labour.

"Another Right-wing party needs to replace them. I don't want to see these 'pretend' Conservatives in power under the pretence of being Right-wing. That's exactly what Tony Blair did to win and keep power."

@David Eden:

"Too many civil servants and massive government overspend is the issue. Making voters pay for Boris Johnson’s green idealism is also a disgrace. The Government needs to be reduced. Start with the civil service quangos and the Treasury blob which are dragging the UK down."

@Garden Of England:

"Boris Johnson is a fool with his head in the sand. The economy is very likely in recession already. Recessions usually result in a huge drop in tax revenue, so if possible should be avoided.

"High energy costs are responsible for the slowdown, so reducing taxes on energy preemptively is what is required. I think Reform have hit the nail on the head - reduce energy taxes. This is almost certainly cheaper than the alternative - a recession."

Immigration

Readers said that curbing illegal immigration was one of the key reasons why they voted for Mr Johnson in 2019. However, many revealed their frustration at the Government’s poor handling of the issue, deeming it a betrayal of the British people, and urge ministers to start getting tough.

@A M Haines:

"I am so utterly sick of this Government's failure to stop the ever-increasing numbers of freeloaders from entering the country. Day after day we have to endure the sight of hundreds of healthy young men who, in spite of breaking all the laws we as citizens have to abide by, are ushered into the country with the sort of deference reserved for the elderly and infirm.

"The Rwanda scheme is never going to have any effect with these sorts of numbers entering. The only answer is to not let them set foot here. The Government has to change tack."

@Christine Constable:

"The Tories have been worse than Labour in getting a handle on immigration. Boris Johnson has been an unmitigated disaster, on the very things he was elected to fix - house prices and immigration. As one is a function of the other, the higher the immigrants, the higher the house prices."

@Leslie Bennett:

"We have borders. We were promised control of these borders and a reduction of immigration. Instead, it goes up exponentially, both legally and illegally. We are being invaded, and nothing is being done. It will destroy our country and our way of life.

"I will never forgive the Conservatives for this, they have thrown our country away."

@Alan Roberts:

"Complete and utter betrayal of the British people, increasingly forced to live like sardines. For this reason alone, Boris Johnson should be forced into political oblivion. The UK is clearly travelling rapidly once again on the road to a low-wage economy, an even more segregated society under the guise of multiculturalism and a loss of cultural identity."

@Edward Arthur:

"If anyone asks why the Government cannot help them financially to counter the high inflation environment we live in now - the Government’s inability to tackle the mass Channel crossings is your answer. Billions being spent on supporting people who shouldn't be here. The Government has no guts or interest in its own people."

Brexit

Readers are calling for a stronger stance on Brexit. Many also suggest that more suitable politicians - such as Nigel Farage, David Davis and Lord Frost - may be better placed than the Prime Minister to deal with issues such as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

@Amanda Mala:

"The thing that concerns me most is that this Tory Government is not Conservative. The list of their failings is long, but the fact that hardly any Brexit advantages have been pursued is top of the list.

"There seems to be nobody of the calibre who might wish to take over, except Lord Frost, and he’s not an MP. Come on, true Tories on the backbenches, get your act together and find us a real Conservative PM and Cabinet."

@Igor Ivanovitch:

"Boris Johnson will not trigger Article 16 no matter what. He agreed to the EU annexing Northern Ireland, so he won't recant on the Protocol.

"The problem is entirely due to Boris Johnson’s desperation in taking the worst possible deal offered instead of standing up for Britain and going WTO due to the EU's intransigence. Mr Johnson, for all his Churchill-like aspirations, is a weakling."

@William Munny:

"The NI Protocol doesn't need fixing, it needs scrapping. The Conservative Party can never be forgiven for failing miserably to deliver Brexit. It's been lies, fudge and cowardice all the way."

@Joe Moss:

"I want Nigel Farage and Richard Tice. I want Liam Fox. I want proper Conservatives like David Davis and Andrew Rosindell. I want people like this to throw in their lot with a new project to rid this country of opportunism, wokery, hypocrisy and the unpatriotic slide into darkness which the Blair and Cameron consensus started and which Johnson has failed to address once the Brexit referendum was won.

"We need a new Battle of Britain to win hearts and minds and get Global Britain on the map."

Cost-of-living

Readers condemned Mr Johnson and his Government for fuelling the cost-of-living squeeze by refusing to reduce taxes, suspend green levies and cut fuel duty, with many also expressing concerns over how the increase in bills is negatively impacting them.

@Pending Approval:

"The war in Ukraine has pushed petrol and diesel prices through the roof. This is a symptom, not the cause. The cause is the failure of the Government to ensure our energy supply was secure and to rely on despotic regimes that control the oil supply.

"It was our failure to build nuclear power stations and instead waste money on unreliable options like wind and solar where huge subsidies have been paid to mask the real cost."

@Gavin Keir:

"Here is an unseen side effect: my 89-year-old father, widowed last year, just called me in tears worried about the new bills he will get.

"Of course, I will cover them, however, the stress on a man who worked his whole life for his family is unconscionable. I am frankly disgusted. What have we become? Is this who we really are?"

@Michael Twomey:

"We have carpet-bombed our children's future for the sake of the old, when there were obvious alternative strategies available that would have protected the vulnerable whilst respecting liberty and protecting the economy.

"Boris Johnson and his ilk have hosed away billions like drunken sailors, and we will be paying the credit card bill for generations."

@Merrill Berthrong:

"Joe Biden and Boris Johnson have allowed the oil price to more than double, even before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine with their net-zero policies. The US and UK could be energy independent, but the focus on renewables has made both countries dependent on imports. Renewables double the cost of power generation.

"They both ignored the threat of inflation with their overspending, QE and artificially low interest rates. Joe Biden and Boris Johnson have raised taxes and crippled households with high energy bills.

"Both leaders are now facing the consequences of their actions."

@Richard Kenward:

"Estimates show people are going to be £3,000 worse off because of taxes, energy hikes, fuel hikes and rampant inflation.

"Of course to someone earning £100,000 a year that’s only three per cent of income, but for a poor family on £20,000 a year it’s a stonking 15 per cent and the difference between heating or not heating their homes.

"What sort of Chancellor robs the poor because of his Government’s failure to reign in catastrophic spending sprees?"

Partygate

Readers are in agreement that Boris Johnson should not have lied to Parliament and the public about 'partygate'. They question the Prime Minister’s integrity and suggest his apology does not suffice.

@Julie Bower:

"Telling the truth and obeying the laws of the land really do matter to many people. Most know the difference between right and wrong. He is a man in the most senior office in the country. It is not acceptable for him to break his own rules and just apologise."

@Richard Rawsthorn:

"There's no excuse for 'partygate'. It didn't take a detailed knowledge of the lockdown rules for Boris Johnson to know that the party shouldn't have happened and he should not have been there.

"For him to pretend to the contrary shows that he is devoid of honour and integrity. He should have resigned in the first place and by clinging to office, he's shown to an even greater extent that he's not fit to be in government.

"Of course, the Ukrainian war suits Mr Johnson very nicely as a distraction from his loathsome behaviour, but that's no reason for him to stay in office."

@Mark Harris:

"Not many PMs get to enjoy the majority he won. Fewer, if any, destroy it as quickly.

"The lies are toxic. Had he just put his hands up and said, 'I had a party, I broke the rules. I’m sorry', he could have been forgiven. Instead, he has acted like an arrogant teenager, just pointless lying and obfuscation.

"Then there’s the complete lack of direction or ideology - you would think the articles he has written about small government and low taxes were by someone else. Utterly useless, I hope a grown up can take over before it is too late."