Finding Amusement In the Implosion of the Conservative Party? It's Comprehensible – Yet Completely Wrong

There have been times when Tory figureheads have sounded moderately rational outwardly – and other moments where they have sounded completely unhinged, yet continued to be cherished by their base. We are not in either of those times. A leading Tory left the crowd unmoved when she presented to her conference, despite she offered the red meat of anti-immigration sentiment she assumed they wanted.

The issue wasn't that they’d all arisen with a renewed sense of humanity; more that they didn’t believe she’d ever be able to implement it. Effectively, fake vegan meat. Conservatives despise that. One senior Conservative was said to label it a “themed procession”: noisy, energetic, but ultimately a farewell.

Coming Developments for the Group Having Strong Arguments to Make for Itself as the Top-Performing Governing Force in Modern Times?

Certain members are taking another squiz at one contender, who was a firm rejection at the beginning – but now it’s the end, and everyone else has withdrawn. Others are creating a buzz around a rising star, a recently elected representative of the newest members, who presents as a traditional Conservative while filling her socials with border-control messaging.

Could she be the leader to counter opposition forces, now leading the incumbents by 20 points? Does a term exist for defeating opponents by mirroring their stance? Furthermore, should one not exist, surely we could adopt a term from martial arts?

When Finding Satisfaction In These Developments, in a Downfall Observation Way, in a Serves-Them-Right-for-Austerity Way, It's Comprehensible – However Totally Misguided

One need not consider overseas examples to grasp this point, nor read a prominent academic's groundbreaking study, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy: your entire mental framework is shouting it. Centrist right-wing parties is the key defense resisting the extremist factions.

Ziblatt’s thesis is that political systems endure by appeasing the “propertied and powerful” happy. I’m not wild about it as an organising principle. It feels as though we’ve been catering to the affluent and connected for decades, at the cost of everyone else, and they rarely appear quite happy enough to cease desiring to reduce support out of public assistance.

But his analysis isn’t a hunch, it’s an archival deep dive into the Weimar-era political organization during the interwar Germany (in parallel to the England's ruling party in that historical context). When the mainstream right becomes uncertain, when it starts to chase the rhetoric and superficial stances of the far right, it transfers the steering wheel.

There Were Examples Some of This In the Referendum Aftermath

A key figure cosying up to Steve Bannon was a notable instance – but far-right flirtation has become so evident now as to obliterate any other party narratives. What happened to the established party members, who prize predictability, preservation, governing principles, the national prestige on the world stage?

Where did they go the progressives, who defined the nation in terms of powerhouses, not powder kegs? Let me emphasize, I had reservations regarding both groups too, but the contrast is dramatic how such perspectives – the inclusive conservative, the reformist element – have been marginalized, superseded by ongoing scapegoating: of migrants, Islamic communities, benefit claimants and protesters.

Take the Platform to Melodies Evoking the Opening Credits to the Television Drama

And talk about issues they reject. They portray protests by older demonstrators as “carnivals of hatred” and employ symbols – British flags, Saint George’s flags, anything with a bold patriotic hues – as an direct confrontation to anyone who doesn’t think that total cultural alignment is the best thing a human can aspire to.

We observe an absence of any built-in restraint, that prompts reflection with core principles, their traditional foundations, their own plan. Whatever provocation Nigel Farage throws for them, they follow. So, no, there's no pleasure to observe their collapse. They’re taking democratic norms down with them.