How the rural vote could decide the Conservative leadership race

As I passed the Momentum rally in Parliament Square last week, I was reminded of the last time there was such a packed demonstration on Parliament’s doorstep. There might not be a huge crossover between Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and Countryside Alliance members, but both groups seem equally passionate. 

Huge numbers of rural people protested against the last Labour government for a whole host of reasons, triggered by the bill to ban hunting. The largest demonstration brought over 400,000 people to London and our opponents had no response other than to poll the marchers, find that over 80% of them supported the Conservatives and argue that their protest could therefore be ignored by Labour politicians.

I was the Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance then, and am now its Chairman as well as a Conservative MP. My dual loyalties are by no means unique and our own research suggests that there are at least 26,000 Conservative Party members on the Alliance’s database of members and supporters – that’s 20% of the entire Conservative Party.