Stop being dour and joyless, Ruth Davidson tells Tories

Theresa May's Conservatives are too “dour” and “finger-wagging” to attract young voters, two of the party’s senior figures said at the Westminster launch of new policy think tank, Onward.

Scottish leader Ruth Davidson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove both called for the party to look less “joyless”.

“Sometimes as Tories we just look a bit dour,” said Ms Davidson in a speech peppered with jokes.

“We look a bit joyless, a bit authoritarian sometimes.

“We don’t get to win if we start hectoring the people that we need to vote for us. We’ve got to learn to be a bit more joyful ... When you do it with a smile, they actually get behind you.”

She did not name or criticise Mrs May, who was accused by the media of being “a bit of a glum bucket” during last year’s election campaign.

Mr Gove said: “Sometimes in the past we have seemed censorious and finger-wagging, pessimistic and unhappy, uncomfortable that we seem to be living in the 21st century when the Fifties would be far more attractive — and what a pity that the 19th century isn’t an option!”