Tory Nation: The Dark Legacy of the World's Most Successful Political Party

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But, having acquired it in a fit of absence of mind, as it were, will the Conservatives let this winning formula slip through their fingers? There is a real risk. They must not put their faith in Labour-lite policies. That failed in 2017. And they must not use 2017-style Labour language either like “burning injustices”. Instead they must use conservative language to describe Conservative policies. Disraeli was unambiguous about both. “The Tory party, unless it is a national party, is nothing,” he stated repeatedly. And he was an unashamed populist too: “The Tory party is only in its proper position when it represents popular principles,” he declared in 1863. “Then it is truly irresistible.” In the week before we meet, Gauke survived a vote of no-confidence in his constituency Conservative Association by 123 to 61. The minister had been the latest target of political campaign group Leave.EU, who had sought to claim its “first Cabinet scalp”. Despite the vote, Gauke plays down comparisons to the Conservative right seizing control of the party in the same way the left took the citadel in Labour.

Green said a significant number of the MPs contributing to the group were from the new intake of 2019 and were keen to contribute ideas on “levelling up” the divide between north and south. “This is exactly what their voters, first-time Conservatives, want to see.” Since the Third Reform Act in 1884 broadened the franchise to include most adult men—all men, and most women as well, were given the vote in 1918—the British Conservatives have been the most electorally successful political party in modern European history and have governed, alone or in coalition, for eighty-five of the past 135 years. In Tory Nation, Samuel Earle discusses and frets morosely over this success, which has confuted so many hopes and indeed confident predictions on the left. Given the turbulence since 2016 and the Tory party’s embrace of Brexit and an iconoclastic radicalism that ended in Truss breaking the record for the shortest-serving prime minister, it should come as no surprise that the small-c conservative home counties feel ruffled. Gauke has another nagging fear about a development that may put off younger voters even more. “I still think hanging over all of that is what is going to happen in the event of a Conservative defeat at the next general election, followed by a vacancy for the leadership and a party membership that is going to get its say. Jamie Njoku-Goodwin and Adam Atashzai are tasked with sharpening Sunak’s political narrative. Njoku-Goodwin, a former housemate of Booth-Smith, is leaving his role as chief executive of UK Music to become director of strategy. Astashzai is a senior adviser working on strategic comms and is a veteran of Cameron’s Downing Street and the 2015 election campaign. The comms bossOne predictable political consequence of the Tories’ antics is that Labour, under the decidedly uncharismatic leadership of Sir Keir Starmer, has been leading in the polls by 20 to 30 percent or more. As Johnson’s government disintegrated last July amid a flood of ministerial resignations, Starmer made by his standards quite a good joke about “the sinking ships fleeing the rat,” but now comes a different group of deserters: the swelling numbers of Tory MPs who have said they will leave Parliament at the next election. Some are veterans like Sajid Javid, who will doubtless return to banking; others only arrived in Parliament at the last election but guess they would lose their seats if they stood again. Gauke entered parliament in 2005 as a eurosceptic. The MP for South West Hertfordshire used to be a member of the European Research Group, and at one point, was even its treasurer. He is now seen as one of the leading bastions of the anti-no deal movement. “I think it would be fair to say that both the ERG and my views have evolved quite a lot since then. We’ve grown apart,” he says.

What can have happened to them? We’ve had something called a Tory Party in England for 350 years, and while it’s difficult to discern a direct line of descent from the Church-and-King Cavaliers and anti-Exclusionists of the reign of King Charles II to the motley crew of the reign of King Charles III, the most remarkable thing about the Tories has been their endless adaptability to the times. In the 1840s the party of the squirearchal “gentlemen of England” brought down Sir Robert Peel, its leader, because of his repeal of the Corn Laws, which favored landowners’ income, but before the century was out the Tories had reshaped themselves to attract not only middle-class but working-class voters. Conservative MPs in the moderate 'One Nation' group have agreed to up their game and re-assert their influence, as concern grows at the centre of the party that Rishi Sunak's lurch toward right-wing rhetoric and policy positions could do more harm than good at the ballot box. The last time the One Nation caucus was truly organised was in the summer of 2019, when the Torypartyleadership contest to replace former prime minister Theresa May got underway. While May wasn't in the group, shehad the support of many moderate Tories having beenousted by the fervent Brexiteers over the terms of her withdrawal agreement with the EU. Members of the Young Conservatives, the youth wing of the Conservative Party, campaigning before the UK general election, 1955 An ex-secretary of state feared itwould beunlikely that they would elect a leader from the centre ground if they did lose the election in 2024, predicting that the party membership would clamour for a figurefrom the right like Home Secretary SuellaBraverman. "I suspect the party won’t be in the mood for moderation," they told PoliticsHome.

Tory Nation

Brogan, Benedict (29 April 2010), "Boris Johnson interview", The Daily Telegraph, My advice to David Cameron: I have made savings, so can you . Theirsocially liberal, environment-consciousandpro-Europepolitics had beenTory orthodoxy sinceformer prime ministerDavid Cameron became party leadernearly 20 years ago.But Brexit, particularlyBoris Johnson's unyielding approach to negotiations,demoralised the Europhile One Nationgroup, and divided itsMPs over Johnson's unorthodox decision toprorogue parliament in pursuit of a hardline divorce from the EU. The move, later deemed unlawful, united a number of outraged One Nation Tories withfurious opposition parties whoaccused Johnson of seeking to avoid scrutiny of his Brexit deal. This period of Tory civil warleft the group"broken", admitted aformer Cabinet minister. The Conservative Party's 2010 general election manifesto contained a section on "One World Conservatism", including a commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on well-targeted aid. [30] In 2006, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Andrew Tyrie published a pamphlet which claimed that party leader David Cameron was following the one-nationist path of Disraeli. [31] Phillip Blond, a British political theorist who has had past connections with the Conservative Party, [32] has proposed a renewed version of one-nation conservatism. [33]

It is not just campaigning Lib Dems who claim something significant could be brewing in these seats, and can be found across the home counties and the south-east of England. Many Conservatives are also concerned that in their party’s desperation to win swathes of traditionally Labour “red wall” seats in the Midlands and north, they have neglected these seats at the other end of its 2019 electoral coalition. Griffiths, Simon (19 July 2012). "Cameron's "Progressive Conservatism" is largely cosmetic and without substance". LSE Blogs . Retrieved 20 March 2015. A formal dining club could no longer cut it. “There was a feeling of it’s not enough to sit around and have companionable meals,” says a member. “There was a need to be more muscular in asserting ourselves.”What Churchill would have made of a Hindu (and a teetotaler!) at 10 Downing Street scarcely bears thinking about, but whatever else they might be, the Tories today are plainly not a nativist party. It might not be sheer accident that the party that gave us a prime minister named Disraeli in 1868 and a prime minister named Margaret in 1979 (as well as two more women prime ministers since) should now give us one called Rishi Sunak. Americans might bear in mind that they haven’t yet elected a Jewish president, let alone a Hindu, and they haven’t elected a woman either.