EXCLUSIVE: Conservative Party 'Contributing to Extremism and Undermining Democracy' Voters Say After Sunak's 'Mob Rule' Rant

New polling by WeThink for Byline Supplement shows a majority of voters believe the party of Suella Braverman and Liz Truss is contributing to anti-Muslim hate

Voters simply do not buy Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims that “mob rule” and extremists have taken over Britain – and argue instead his party is contributing to anti-Muslim hate and undermining democracy. 

Last Friday, following George Galloway’s election in Rochdale following a fraught, Gaza-focused campaign, PM Sunak urged the country to “face down the extremists who would tear us apart”. 

It was quickly blasted as hollow. The PM had failed to robustly condemn Lee Anderson, the former Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party, who claimed that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was under the influence of "Islamist" associates. Sunak also refused to withdraw the whip from ex-Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who penned an article in the Telegraph, claiming that “the Islamists, the extremists, and the antisemites are in charge now” over the weekly London pro-ceasefire protests. 

Nor did he act when former Prime Minister Liz Truss claimed that a “radical Islamic party” could win in the Rochdale by-election, and stayed silent while her far-right US interviewer Steve Bannon praised EDL thug Tommy Robinson. Truss is courting the radical right on the global stage, and he will do nothing about it. 

Now an exclusive new poll conducted by WeThink for Byline Supplement suggests the British public has widespread concerns over the Conservative party's role in the so-called culture wars. 

The representative survey for Byline Supplement finds that a significant 45% of British voters believe that the Conservative Party is actively “undermining democracy”, with only a quarter seeing the party as protecting or strengthening democratic values. 

Of those with a view, it rises to 64% of voters who believe the Conservative Party is undermining democracy. 

Sunak’s speech by the door of No 10 is also called into question by the public's view on the Conservative Party’s impact on extremism. An equal proportion of voters perceive the party as contributing to extremism as much as reducing it. 

Meanwhile, a plurality – 38% of voters – disagree with the Prime Minister's characterisation of Britain being under 'mob rule' due to recent protests (31% agree with Sunak). 

And as the Government ramps up attacks on protesters – through sweeping recent legislation and brittle rhetoric – 58% of adults say they would not be confident they’d be treated fairly by the police if they took part in a public demonstration. The Government has increasingly appeared to put pressure on the police to clamp down on marchers, with regular briefings to right-wing newspapers.  

Voters' fears over attending protests reflects a broader crisis of confidence in the institutions meant to safeguard British democracy and civil liberties. 

The poll also addresses the under-reported issue of Islamophobia. A plurality – 43% – of the public believes the Conservative Party is making anti-Muslim hatred worse, with only 17% believing the party is making the situation better. Again, when you take only those with a view, 72% of Brits believe the Conservative Party is worsening the situation regarding Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred in Britain. 

Notably, even among 2019 Conservative voters, a larger proportion sees the party as exacerbating the problem rather than helping. That is perhaps not surprising when you consider recent HOPE Not hate polling which found that 58% of Conservative Party members (about twice the proportion of the wider public) think Islam is a threat to the British way of life.

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine wrote to the Government last month calling on No 10 to appoint an Independent Adviser on Islamophobia. The Government has left the post vacant since 2022, despite a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes according to monitoring group Tell Mama.

The party’s failure to address and reduce Islamophobia within Britain has been noted by figures including former party chair Baroness Sayeeda Warsi in recent weeks. Anti-Muslim hate is now deemed 'very' or 'somewhat' significant by a majority of the public. But it rarely makes the front pages. 

That is further exemplified by our finding that a majority – 56% – of the public feel that the issues they care about are not fairly covered in the media, nor adequately discussed by politicians. The disconnect between the public and the political and media establishments gets clearer by the week.

When will voters get a chance to have a say? Talk grew of a May General Election before the budget – before dying down when people realised there wasn’t anywhere near enough in Hunt’s package to provide an electoral life-raft. 

But voters do want a May election over one later in the year, with 46% favouring the former, to 28% who want an Autumn ballot. Of all parties, only current Conservative voters want a poll later in the year (2019 voters, many of whom have deserted the party, are roughly evenly split). 

Perhaps Rishi Sunak’s fears over ‘mob role’ in fact represent something simpler. This multi-millionaire’s idea of a ‘mob’ – the increasingly irate public at large – is well and truly against him. He is tied to a party that is veering dangerously towards the hard Right. From his party’s GB News bunker, it is everyone else that looks extreme. At some point this year however, the mob will get to have their say at last.   

Correction: An earlier version of this post post attributed the comment "radical Islam is becoming mainstream in British politics” to Liz Truss. The comments were in fact made by Nigel Farage (at a US conservative event with the former PM). The piece has been amended with her actual comments.

The WeThink poll for Byline Supplement was conducted on the 7th of March, involving 1,186 adults polled online across Britain, with results weighted to properly represent the make-up of the wider public.