Frustration at increase in annual cost and discontent over policies fuelling grassroots dissatisfaction as election looms

Senior Conservatives are braced for as many as 30,000 party members to leave when membership fees rise by 56 per cent, amid signs of wider Tory grassroots discontent (and despondency).

www.telegraph.co.uk (extract)

[The Conservative party Leader is chosen by party members from a short list drawn up by Conservative parliamentarians. It is thought that current membership is around 180,000. Will the Tories become more extreme in the future? – Owl]