Can the Tories rebuild the trainwreck of the Conservative Party?: Max Hastings

The Conservative Party's recent losses in British local elections signal potential disaster for Rishi Sunak's government in upcoming national polls. With a storied history of governance, the party faces fragmentation, chronicled in Geoffrey Wheatcroft's book "Bloody Panico!" Economic stagnation and the rise of right-wing extremists have eroded public trust. Reforms are urged to return to centrist values and pragmatism, yet the party's future remains uncertain amidst deep-seated divisions and challenges..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..By Max Hastings.The Conservative Party's losses in British local elections almost certainly foreshadow a greater calamity for Rishi Sunak's government in the next national poll, probably later this year. His Tories have governed Britain for 105 years of the past 150, albeit sometimes in coalition, a record that no other political party in Europe can match. But they now face a collapse that some pundits suggest will mean their end as a national force, their disintegration into a rabble of squabbling factions. .___STEADY_PAYWALL___.For a century and a half, unity of purpose has been British Conservatives' secret weapon — the will to paper over internal differences in ruthless pursuit or retention of power. A hoary old Tory backbench MP used to say, back in the 1960s: "pro bono publico, no bloody panico!" He meant that for the good of the state — or, if you like, for his own tribe — even at moments of crisis everybody should keep calm and carry on..Those were the days. By contrast, Conservative journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft has recently published a new book entitled Bloody Panico!, chronicling the party's descent into chaos, with nine leaders in the 33 years since the fall of Margaret Thatcher, and five prime ministers in the past eight years. One of them, Liz Truss, 49-day premier in 2022, was ill-advised enough to publish a memoir of her tenure of office — the result: derision. .What is going on? The world knows, and most British people sensibly recognize, that we are no longer very important. But it is heartbreaking to witness our country making itself an object of mockery. Buffoons and charlatans, of whom Boris Johnson is only the most notorious, have recently occupied some of its highest offices. Grotesquely, a plan to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda has become the focus of our most conspicuous political debate. .Just over a century ago, Tories were driven to madness by their obsessive determination to cling to British dominion over Ireland. They recovered, but if they wish ever to hold power again after losing it at the next ballot, they must shake off their more recent flight from reason into hatred for Europe, even though this is widely shared among unthinking voters..Americans may say: Ah, well look at what is happening to the GOP on our side of the Pond. There are indeed comparisons, but it is also the case that the self-destruction of Britain's governing party matters much less to the world than does the future of the American Republicans, because the United States is the only credible lead nation the West has, or will ever have. Moreover, it is plausible that Donald Trump, as GOP standard-bearer, will re-enter the White House in January 2025, whereas the Conservatives are in danger of forfeiting power in Britain not merely for now, but conceivably forever..Every Tory, contemplating today's train wreck, looks back to the glory years of Thatcher's 1979-90 reign and asks themselves: Where have we gone wrong? The foremost problem is that the British economy has languished since at least 2008, and they have governed for the past 14 of those years — all of them since 2010. Stagnating living standards have cost the Tories their reputation for economic competence. .And since they lost the 1997 general election, they have fallen increasingly under the influence of right-wing zealots, many of whose views are indistinguishable from those of US Republicans. They are climate change skeptics who mistrust and even hate our national institutions, such as the Supreme Court and Bank of England, and vent even more spleen against international bodies. They reserve their most brutal language for the European Union. .How did the Tories become prisoners of such people? William Hague, Conservative leader at the millennium, was responsible for a change in leadership election rules that has crippled his party ever since, and will continue to do so until they are changed again..For 40 years, leaders were chosen by Tory MPs, the people who know the candidates best. Then Hague, in the name of democracy, introduced a system whereby MPs nominate a short list of two names, which are then put to a ballot among the rank-and-file members in the country..In 1953, these numbered 2.3 million; today, the Hague system makes the party leadership, and thus also the premiership, a prize awarded by 200,000 mostly elderly, xenophobic reactionaries, less than 1% of the total electorate. This caucus has rejected a succession of candidates popular with the British people, such as former Chancellor Ken Clarke, in favor of europhobe extremists and rabble-rousers. Boris Johnson indeed denied the party whip to Clarke and his fellow pro-Europeans. .Hague himself appears today to understand the damage he wrought. He wrote in the London Times last month that Truss's premiership represented "the most excruciatingly embarrassing period in the modern history of our party, one for which a severe electoral price is still being paid.".He also recalled that Thatcher, idol of British Conservatives, had the deepest respect for national institutions — as did Ronald Reagan for those of the US. He avows a fear that many Tories still cling to the indefensible enthusiasm of Truss, though she is discredited in Britain at large..The essential point about Thatcher is that she was politically cautious. I myself knew her well enough, and heard enough from her intimate colleagues, to be near-certain that she would never, never — she liked to repeat such words — have led Britain out of the EU, as did Johnson. .It's not necessarily all over forever for the Tories. After being overwhelmingly defeated by the Liberals in 1906, they resurrected themselves to hold power, either alone or in coalition, for all but three years of the decades between 1915 and 1945. But if the Party is ever to recover from the looming catastrophe predicted by opinion pollsit must do so under an avowed centrist leader, not another right-wing anti-European. .It must revive its tradition of being the party of common sense and pragmatism. This demands persuading the nation that our future hinges upon making friends, not abusing them; upon narrowing our ambitions on the world stage, but widening them on the domestic one..A future Tory Party must find ways to promote commerce, build skills and galvanize a nation increasingly prey to lassitude. .To achieve this, it must identify and nurture new people both as its MPs and future leaders, capable of behaving decently and responsibly; telling the truth; eschewing crazy rhetoric. Unfortunately, it is by no means certain that this will happen. The influence upon the party of the right, purveying a poison rooted in hostility to immigration, and indeed to foreigners generally, such as is also being dispensed in many European societies as well in the US, may go too deep to be susceptible to any antidote..We millions who espouse policies of the center will continue to seek a party worthy of our support. Following the next general election, there will assuredly continue to be a party of the right, but it may not be recognizable as that of the old Tories. And it may languish for years in a vain quest for power. .Read also:.UK man's Home Affairs "extortion" nightmareUK house prices dive as mortgage rates creep higher ahead of electionsGeorgia exemplifies what will happen if Russia triumphs against Ukraine: Marc Champion.© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Can the Tories rebuild the trainwreck of the Conservative Party?: Max Hastings

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