“We need to get rid of the deadwood, the traitors and the MPs that can’t behave. [We need to] get in the new talent and go back to the glory days of the Thatcher era – the real Conservative Party,” says rising political star Sophie Corcoran.
Sophie Corcoran is a young conservative commentator whose political journey has been somewhat a unique one.
As a working-class student from Essex, she often finds herself in the minority when it comes to her political views – although, this seems increasingly to be the case with young people who hold right-wing views.
With a large Twitter following and regular appearances on the television, she’s standing again as a Tory candidate in the 2023 local elections next month, and that hasn’t gone without adversity.
Speaking about her journey into politics, the commentator said: “Growing up, I thought someone like me doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting into politics. I’m a working-class woman from Thurrock in Essex, went to a state school in special measures and have learning difficulties. It just wasn’t going to happen, but I was always obsessed with politics.”
“Growing up, I thought someone like me doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting into politics.”
Sophie says that when she watched David Cameron win the 2010 election, she decided politics was the career path for her.
She added that “from that moment on my path was set and my love for politics was born.” She went on to join the Conservative Party at 15 and stand in her first local election at 18.
But lockdown, Sophie says, was when her “whole life changed.”
In spite of some of the hardships she had to endure, as did everyone during the pandemic, casually voicing her opinions on Twitter launched her profile.
The council candidate said: “During lockdown I got to the point in my life where everything had fallen apart.
“Exams were cancelled, I was looking after my twin sister who had quite a severe mental illness, I saw things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy and I didn’t really have much to live for at this point.
“That’s when I got Twitter and started talking about what was going on in the world, like so many young people do… politics was an escape for me.”
“That’s when I got Twitter and started talking about what was going on in the world, like so many young people do… politics was an escape for me.”
But as a young conservative, she isn’t short of criticism aimed at the parliamentary party – and she isn’t alone.
Many young conservatives feel frustrated by the direction the party has taken since the pandemic, and more so in the last 12 months.
“We’re in a mess, there’s no two ways about it,” Sophie explains.
“We need to get rid of the deadwood, the traitors and the MPs that can’t behave. [We need to] get in the new talent and go back to the glory days of the Thatcher era – the real Conservative Party,” she added.
But in spite of some of the condemnation Prime Minister Rishi Sunak receives, Sophie says he provides the stability needed to keep the Tories united.
Although she acknowledges “no one” can win elections like Boris Johnson can, Sophie explains that whilst she doesn’t recognise Sunak as traditionally Conservative, “he provides the stability that we are in desperate need of.”
As a proud Thatcherite, Sophie adds: “I’m not sure Mrs Thatcher would be thrilled with the direction the party is headed in. She was classy, honourable, behaved with integrity, believed in low taxes and self-ownership. I can’t say any of that about our current parliamentary party.”
As Sophie often points out to detractors, she is a working-class Conservative – which often means she is on the receiving end of endless abuse on social media. But this doesn’t deter her from standing up for her own views on Twitter and on television.
She said: “There’s no doubt that I receive the most abuse out of all the commentators because I am a working-class woman with learning difficulties – I’m such an easy target.
“Most of the abuse I receive has nothing to do with my politics, it’s purely about the way I look or mostly just constant threats of violence.
“I’m talking about thousands of abusive messages a day,” she continued.
“I’d be lying if I would say it didn’t bother me because it does, and I think that we have a duty to be open and honest about that – otherwise things will never change.
“There have definitely been some times where it makes you physically sick or I have scared to leave my own home, but ultimately it’s my passion for politics that keeps me going.
“There are definitely moments when I think ‘I just can’t do it anymore’, but nevertheless you have to fight for what you want and drag yourself through the bad days.”
“There are definitely moments when I think ‘I just can’t do it anymore’, but nevertheless you have to fight for what you want and drag yourself through the bad days.”
Standing as a candidate in the forthcoming local elections, Sophie eventually wants to go into politics at a parliamentary level serving as an MP. Her ambition is to represent her home constituency, which she says never has a homegrown MP.
Keen to take on any opportunities, Sophie says she really wants to make an impact by meeting new people and growing as both a person and a politician.
To hear more from Sophie, she is a regular guest on GB News and often tweets about politics at @sophielouisecc.
Written by William Hallowell.
Photo credits: Copyright Sophie Corcoran.
How would a 20-year-old know what it was like when Margaret Thatcher was in government?