Taking Pleasure In this Downfall of the Conservative Party? That's Understandable – Yet Completely Incorrect

There have been times when Tory figureheads have appeared almost sensible on the surface – and alternate phases where they have sounded wildly irrational, yet were still adored by their base. We are not in such a scenario. A leading Tory failed to inspire attendees when she spoke at her conference, despite she offered the red meat of border-focused rhetoric she assumed they wanted.

This wasn't primarily that they’d all woken up with a revived feeling of humanity; more that they lacked faith she’d ever be able to implement it. In practice, an imitation. Tories hate that. An influential party member apparently called it a “jazz funeral”: loud, energetic, but still a parting.

What Next for the Organization That Can Reasonably Claim to Make for Itself as the Top-Performing Governing Force in the World?

Certain members are taking renewed consideration at a particular MP, who was a definite refusal at the start of the night – but as things conclude, and other candidates has left. Some are fostering a interest around a rising star, a young parliamentarian of the 2024 intake, who presents as a traditional Conservative while saturating her social media with anti-migrant content.

Could she be the standard-bearer to challenge the rival party, now outpolling the Conservatives by a significant margin? Does a term exist for beating your rivals by mirroring their stance? And, should one not exist, surely we could adopt a term from combat sports?

When Finding Satisfaction In Any of This, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Just-Deserts Way, One Can See Why – But Totally Misguided

It isn't necessary to look at the US to grasp this point, or reference the scholar's influential work, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy: every one of your synapses is shouting it. The mainstream right is the key defense preventing the radical elements.

The central argument is that political systems endure by keeping the “propertied and powerful” happy. Personally, I question this as an organising principle. One gets the impression as though we’ve been keeping the propertied and powerful for decades, at the cost of everyone else, and they rarely appear sufficiently content to cease desiring to take a bite out of social welfare.

But his analysis is not speculation, it’s an thorough historical examination into the Weimar-era political organization during the interwar Germany (in parallel to the British Conservatives in that historical context). When the mainstream right loses its confidence, as it begins to chase the rhetoric and symbolic politics of the extremist elements, it transfers the direction.

Previous Instances Showed Comparable Behavior Throughout the EU Exit Process

A key figure cosying up to an influential advisor was one particularly egregious example – but far-right flirtation has become so pronounced now as to overshadow all remaining Conservative messages. Where are the established party members, who prize stability, tradition, legal frameworks, the national prestige on the global scene?

Where did they go the progressives, who portrayed the nation in terms of powerhouses, not powder kegs? Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t wild about any of them either, but it’s absolutely striking how those worldviews – the broad-church approach, the modernizing wing – have been eliminated, in favour of constant vilification: of newcomers, religious groups, benefit claimants and protesters.

Take the Platform to Melodies Evoking the Signature Music to the Television Drama

And talk about issues they reject. They characterize demonstrations by elderly peace activists as “carnivals of hatred” and use flags – national emblems, patriotic icons, all objects bearing a splash of matadorial colour – as an open challenge to anyone who doesn’t think that total cultural alignment is the highest ideal a person could possibly be.

There doesn’t seem to be any inherent moderation, where they check back in with fundamental beliefs, their traditional foundations, their stated objectives. Each incentive the Reform leader throws for them, they follow. Therefore, absolutely not, it’s not fun to observe their collapse. They are pulling social cohesion down with them.