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There have been times when Conservative leaders have seemed reasonably coherent superficially – and alternate phases where they have come across as animal crackers, yet were still adored by party loyalists. This is not that situation. A leading Tory left the crowd unmoved when she presented to her conference, even as she presented the divisive talking points of border-focused rhetoric she believed they wanted.

It’s not so much that they’d all woken up with a renewed sense of humanity; more that they didn’t believe she’d ever be in a position to follow through. Effectively, an imitation. The party dislikes such approaches. A veteran Tory reportedly described it as a “jazz funeral”: loud, animated, but still a farewell.

Coming Developments for the Group With a Decent Case to Make for Itself as the Most Accomplished Democratic Party in Modern Times?

A faction is giving a fresh look at one contender, who was a firm rejection at the start of the night – but now it’s the end, and everyone else has departed. Another group is generating a interest around a rising star, a young parliamentarian of the latest cohort, who looks like a traditional Conservative while filling her online profiles with border-control messaging.

Could she be the leader to challenge opposition forces, now surpassing the Tories by 20 points? Is there a word for beating your rivals by mirroring their stance? And, should one not exist, surely we could use an expression from combat sports?

Should You Take Pleasure In These Developments, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Just-Deserts Way, One Can See Why – But Totally Misguided

You don’t even have to look at the US to grasp this point, or consult Daniel Ziblatt’s influential work, the historical examination: every one of your synapses is emphasizing it. Centrist right-wing parties is the key defense preventing the far right.

The central argument is that democracies survive by appeasing the “propertied and powerful” happy. I’m not wild about it as an guiding tenet. One gets the impression as though we’ve been indulging the affluent and connected over generations, at the cost of the broader population, and they rarely appear sufficiently content to stop wanting to take a bite out of disability benefits.

Yet his research goes beyond conjecture, it’s an archival deep dive into the historical German conservative group during the pre-war period (combined with the British Conservatives circa 1906). Once centrist parties falters in conviction, when it starts to chase the terminology and superficial stances of the radical wing, it hands them the direction.

There Were Examples Some of This In the Referendum Aftermath

The former Prime Minister associating with Steve Bannon was a notable instance – but radical alignment has become so pronounced now as to obliterate any other party narratives. What happened to the old-school Conservatives, who treasure stability, preservation, governing principles, the pride of Britain on the international platform?

Where did they go the reformers, who described the United Kingdom in terms of powerhouses, not tension-filled environments? To be clear, I had reservations regarding either faction either, but it’s absolutely striking how these ideologies – the inclusive conservative, the modernizing wing – have been erased, replaced by ongoing scapegoating: of newcomers, Islamic communities, social support users and protesters.

They Walk On Stage to Music That Sounds Like the Opening Credits to the Television Drama

Emphasizing issues they reject. They characterize protests by 75-year-old pacifists as “festivals of animosity” and use flags – British flags, English symbols, anything with a splash of matadorial colour – as an clear provocation to those questioning that complete national identity is the ultimate achievement a person could possibly be.

We observe an absence of any inherent moderation, that prompts reflection with core principles, their historical context, their original agenda. Any stick Nigel Farage offers them, they’ll chase. Therefore, definitely not, it’s not fun to see their disintegration. They are dragging democratic norms down with them.