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On various occasions when Conservative leaders have seemed almost sensible superficially – and alternate phases where they have come across as wildly irrational, yet continued to be cherished by party loyalists. This is not such a scenario. One prominent Conservative failed to inspire attendees when she addressed her conference, even as she presented the divisive talking points of migrant-baiting she assumed they wanted.

It’s not so much that they’d all woken up with a fresh awareness of humanity; more that they lacked faith she’d ever be able to follow through. In practice, fake vegan meat. The party dislikes such approaches. An influential party member was said to label it a “New Orleans funeral”: noisy, animated, but nonetheless a farewell.

What Next for the Group With a Decent Case to Make for Itself as the Most Historically Successful Political Organization in Modern Times?

A faction is giving another squiz at Robert Jenrick, who was a firm rejection at the beginning – but now it’s the end, and rivals has withdrawn. Some are fostering a buzz around Katie Lam, a recently elected representative of the 2024 intake, who presents as a countryside-based politician while wallpapering her social media with border-control messaging.

Is she poised as the figurehead to counter Reform, now outpolling the Tories by a significant margin? Does a term exist for defeating opponents by mirroring their stance? Moreover, assuming no phrase fits, surely we could adopt a term from combat sports?

Should You Take Pleasure In Such Events, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Serves-Them-Right-for-Austerity Way, It's Comprehensible – But Totally Misguided

One need not look at the US to know this, nor read Daniel Ziblatt’s influential work, his analysis of political systems: your entire mental framework is shouting it. Moderate conservatism is the essential firewall resisting the radical elements.

The central argument is that political systems endure by satisfying the “wealthy and influential” happy. Personally, I question this as an fundamental rule. It seems as though we’ve been keeping the privileged groups for ages, at the cost of everyone else, and they don't typically become adequately satisfied to cease desiring to make cuts out of social welfare.

Yet his research isn’t a hunch, it’s an archival deep dive into the historical German conservative group during the interwar Germany (in parallel to the England's ruling party circa 1906). When the mainstream right falters in conviction, when it starts to adopt the rhetoric and symbolic politics of the extremist elements, it hands them the steering wheel.

We Saw Some of This In the Referendum Aftermath

Boris Johnson cosying up to Steve Bannon was a clear case – but extremist sympathies has become so pronounced now as to obliterate any other Conservative messages. What happened to the old-school Conservatives, who treasure predictability, tradition, governing principles, the national prestige on the international platform?

Where did they go the modernisers, who defined the country in terms of economic engines, not tension-filled environments? Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t wild about both groups too, but it's remarkably noticeable how such perspectives – the broad-church approach, the Cameroonian Conservative – have been erased, in favour of constant vilification: of migrants, religious groups, welfare recipients and activists.

They Walk On Stage to Melodies Evoking the Theme Tune to the Popular Series

And talk about what they cannot stand for any more. They characterize rallies by older demonstrators as “displays of hostility” and employ symbols – British flags, Saint George’s flags, any item featuring a bold patriotic hues – as an open challenge to those questioning that being British through and through is the best thing a person could possibly be.

There appears to be no any built-in restraint, where they check back in with their own values, their traditional foundations, their own plan. Each incentive Nigel Farage throws for them, they follow. Therefore, definitely not, there's no pleasure to see their disintegration. They’re taking democratic norms into the abyss.