Tory leadership: NI Tories prepare to choose next PM

On Wednesday afternoon, Conservative Party leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will go head-to-head in a hustings in Belfast.

Tory members in Northern Ireland will have a chance to hear from each candidate.

BBC News NI political correspondent Gareth Gordon spoke to some members as they prepare to cast their votes.

Shane Quinn rarely has a chance to vote for the political party he is a member of - but this week he will get to vote for the next prime minister.

Shane is from Strabane, a town dominated by the politics of Irish nationalism.

He has also chosen to be a member of the Northern Ireland Conservatives, a party many there would regard as politically untouchable.

"I wouldn't say it's difficult," the barrister said.

"It's probably unusual in the sense that most people from my own particular background would tend to see themselves as nationalist.

"But the way I see it is that there's no party in Northern Ireland that owns my vote. I find my values better represented by the Northern Ireland Conservatives than any of their competitors."

There are believed to be about 600 Conservatives in Northern Ireland. Their votes are measured in the low hundreds, when they even manage to put forward candidates.

But in the election to decide the next Conservative leader, and therefore the next prime minister, the votes of people like Shane will count as much as the votes of conservatives elsewhere.

So, what attracted him to take the political road less travelled?

"I'm a member of the Conservative Party because it reflects the values that I have," he said.

"I believe in hard work, I believe in the importance of the family as a social institution.

"I believe in national institutions, historically that's been things like the rule of law, representative government, and in more modern times, it's things like the NHS and, dare I say it, the BBC.

"I reject any kind of attempt to pigeonhole people into particular political backgrounds because of the town they grew up and the family they have or the church they go to."

For years the Northern Ireland Conservatives have been a political afterthought, ignored by the voters and - they believe - the party leadership in Westminster.

A few months ago footage emerged of Boris Johnson being challenged on the lack of support at a reception on his last visit to Northern Ireland.

Some feel the confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) at Westminster damaged their attempts to win votes as a non-sectarian party.

Veteran Tyrone conservative Roger Lomas said: "What I think of that I don't think you'd be allowed to broadcast.

"It really, really cheesed a lot of us off. It was one of my worst times in the party to see the DUP being lauded at party conference like valued brethren."

Another Northern Ireland Conservative, Sheila Bodel, said: "I was disappointed there's no doubt.

"I know that we have to try to get as much done in government as possible. But I would like to see them work with Conservative candidates to get them elected rather than work with other political parties."

Irwin Armstrong, a former chair of the Norther Ireland Conservatives, also opposes the policy.

"It's very difficult in Northern Ireland to get that breakthrough unless you have got a unique position," he said.

"At the moment we don't have a unique position because the DUP, for example, who are not in Stormont at the moment, are using that leverage to work with the Conservative Party in London to get the Protocol Bill through and it makes life very difficult.

"For what we're about in Northern Ireland is complete non-sectarian politics."

The protocol is expected to feature heavily at the Northern Ireland hustings on Wednesday when the Tory leadership contenders will subject themselves to questions from members.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the sponsor of the controversial Protocol Bill and Henry Hill, deputy editor of the website Conservative Home, believes that means former chancellor Rishi Sunak will face a harder time.

"He opposed the bill in Cabinet and now he's offering quite an insubstantial answer about what he intends to do, because all he's saying is we have a bill in Parliament that he supports now, but the bill is an enabling bill," he said.

"The bill doesn't actually solve the protocol. It gives the government the power to solve the protocol. And what's going to be interesting is seeing members in Northern Ireland press him on what he's going to do specifically with the new powers."

Of the Northern Ireland conservatives the BBC spoke to Roger Lomas would have preferred Penny Mordaunt and Kemi Badenoch; Sheila Bodel and Shane Quinn are supporting Mr Sunak as is Shane Quinn and Irwin Armstrong would have preferred to stick with Boris Johnson.