New PM warned she could LOSE marginal seats because ‘she doesn’t have the same reach as David Cameron’
Sacked Education Secretary Nicky Morgan credited Mr Cameron’s broad appeal for her winning and holding her marginal seat of Loughborough
EX-CABINET Minister Nicky Morgan has warned Theresa May may lose a series of Tory marginal seats as she “doesn’t reach into parts of the UK in the same way” as David Cameron.
The sacked Education Secretary credited Mr Cameron’s broad appeal for her winning and holding her marginal seat of Loughborough at two General Elections under the old Tory boss.
Ms Morgan has already questioned the new Prime Minister plans to reintroduce grammar schools and is rapidly becoming Mrs May’s most vocal critics on the government benches.
Asked how “right-wing” the PM is, Ms Morgan told the Social Market Foundation think tank that “we are going to miss” David Cameron.
Speaking about Mr Cameron’s departure from British politics, the MP said: “We are going to miss him in the Conservative Party, because he appealed to parts of the country which we hadn’t appealed to as a party before he became leader.”
RELATED STORIES
She added: “I’d be very clear that I only won my marginal seat because of his leadership and the appeal he had to the British public.”
But she warned: “I think that Theresa probably isn’t going to reach into those parts in the same way.”
She also claimed Mrs May’s time as Home Secretary may have confused voters about her political views:
“Theresa’s been so in the Home Office for six years and because of the immigration thing, that’s been seen as quite, quite right wing I suppose, in terms of closing borders and shutting down routes and everything else.”
Ms Morgan currently has a 9,183 majority, up from 3,744 in 2010.
She unsuccessfully fought the Leicestershire seat in 2005, losing to Labour.
Explaining her fears, she said: “I know that a lot of us in those marginal seats, I talk to colleagues on my benches, we have to build a coalition of voters every time, to win our seats.”