The myth of dormant young Conservatives

Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron, (R) and Mayor of London and Conservative party candidate for the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, Boris Johnson, show their painted hands after participating in a hand-painting session at the Advantage children's daycare nursey during a UK general election campaign event in Surbiton, south London on April 22, 2015. Britain goes to the polls to elect a new parliament on May 7. AFP PHOTO / POOL / TOBY MELVILLE (Photo by TOBY MELVILLE / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images)

On 9 April, cabinet ministers Matt Hancock, Penny Mordaunt and Michael Gove gathered to launch Generation Why?, a report from the Conservative think tank Onward. Since the 2017 general election, it revealed, the median age at which a voter is more likely to support the Conservatives than Labour has risen by four years, from 47 to 51. Eighty-three per cent of Tory voters are now over 45.

But the right has cause for hope. Onward embodies the disconnected optimism of Emmanuel Macron (its moniker resembles that of the French president’s En Marche!). As its founder Will Tanner put it: “three million voters under the age of 35 … would consider voting Conservative”. The research, cabinet minister Liz Truss wrote, shows that “far from being commune-dwelling Corbynistas”, young people hold “Conservative values” – including low taxation, “fairness”, and public service reform.