Conservative members are “a breed apart” from members of the other main political parties, with much stronger tendencies towards socially illiberal and authoritarian attitudes and completely different views on Brexit, a study has found. Led by Professor Tim Bale, the findings show that Tories are half as likely to support gay marriage as members of Labour, the Lib Dems or the SNP, and significantly more supportive of the death penalty, obedience to authority and censorship of the media “to uphold moral standards.” Professor Bale said party members were the foot soldiers of British democracy, but “that doesn’t necessarily mean they look like or think like their parties’ voters – or, indeed, look or think like each other.”
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