The Tory age divide over Boris Johnson: Young Conservatives say MPs RIGHT to get rid of PM

The Conservative Party is split over the reign of Boris Johnson and whether he should remain in frontline politics.

Analysis of polls of party members by MailOnline shows that Mr Johnson’s powerbase is firmly rooted in the over 50s and pensioners. 

Almost six-in-10 believe that MPs were wrong to resign en-masse, forcing him out of No10 in July by making him unable to govern, according to a recent analysis by YouGov.

A similar proportion takes a dim view of Rishi Sunak’s role in his downfall, saying he should have remained in No11.

But younger members are more opposed to the prime minister. In the YouGov poll 55 per cent of those aged 18-49 said MPs did the right thing by forcing Mr Johnson to step down. 

Additionally, 54 per cent believe Mr Sunak was personally right to walk out.

However, a separate poll at the end of July suggested young Tories could be disenchanted – with almost half saying they would not vote for either candidate to take power next month. 

The rancorous end to Mr Johnson’s premiership has become a central theme to the leadership race between Mr Sunak and Liz Truss to replace him. 

The former chancellor has been grilled at each hustings about his role in Mr Johnson’s downfall.

Ms Truss, who stayed on in government, has however joined him in suggesting Mr Johnson would not get a job in her Cabinet if she wins.

It came as one of Mr Johnson’s closest allies today refused to rule out him remaining in frontline politics after September 5. 

Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, told the Telegraph ‘it’s always dangerous to try and second guess what the future will bring’.

‘What I do know, having worked very closely with the Prime Minister, is the strategic focus he has, which he really demonstrated on Ukraine,’ he told the paper.

‘He very much, together with the Defence Secretary, led the thinking and challenged some of the thinking internally around our response, and built an extremely strong relationship with President Zelensky and showed real leadership on that issue.

‘Likewise, he did in terms of driving the fastest vaccine roll-out, working with NHS colleagues and the vaccines taskforce.

‘So in a number of areas he’s shown real leadership and obviously has great talents which I hope will contribute to society in different ways.’

The Conservatives do not publish data about their 160,000 or so members, so it is difficult to infer how data will affect the leadership race. But they are generally though to be skewed towards older Britons . 

A separate poll of Tory members last month made headlines by suggesting that Mr Sunak was only 5 percentage points behind Ms Truss, when other polls have suggested a yawning chasm in favour of the Foreign Secretary. 

But less reporter numbers in the Techne poll suggested that younger Tories are not hugely impressed with either candidate.

While Ms Truss was more popular with members aged 18-34 (29 per cent to Sunak’s 24 per cent), almost half of those polled (47 per cent) said they would not vote for either candidate. 

Almost a third of  members aged 35-44 felt the same way, though there was a majority of support for Liz Truss.

Last week Mr Sunak defended his role in bringing down Mr Johnson after being criticised live on television by a party member. 

The former chancellor was accused of a ‘cynical’ move designed to put him in No10  as he faced Tory members at a Sky News debate.

Boris loyalists including Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries have accused him of stabbing the PM in the back with a calculated move.

But when this was put to him by an audience member called ‘Steve’ last Thursday he defended his actions.

When the Tory member suggested he had been plotting for months, including setting up a campaign website last December, he said:  ‘That is simply not true. I was due to give a speech with the prime minister the next week (after the resignation) and in the conversations about putting that speech together on the economy it was clear our differences were too big to reconcile. So that was the reason.

‘Plus, let’s not look at the past with rose-tinted spectacles here. Everyone remembers what was going on with Chris Pincher. 

‘That was a serious ethical question that the government was on the wrong side of – again – and I could not defend it.

‘Maybe you are ok to defend that but I was not ok to defend it, 60 other remembers of the government were not ok to defend it, because it was wrong. 

‘And that is why we are here because we need to change things to bring trust and integrity and decency and honesty back into politics. That is what I want to do as prime minister.’