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There have been times when party chiefs have seemed almost sensible on the surface – and different periods where they have sounded animal crackers, yet were still adored by their party. We are not in that situation. Kemi Badenoch left the crowd unmoved when she spoke at her conference, despite she offered the provocative rhetoric of migrant-baiting she assumed they wanted.

This wasn't primarily that they’d all woken up with a fresh awareness of humanity; instead they didn’t believe she’d ever be equipped to follow through. It was, fake vegan meat. Tories hate that. A veteran Tory reportedly described it as a “themed procession”: boisterous, vigorous, but nonetheless a parting.

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

A faction is giving another squiz at a particular MP, who was a definite refusal at the outset – but with proceedings winding down, and everyone else has departed. Another group is generating a interest around a rising star, a young parliamentarian of the 2024 intake, who looks like a Shires Tory while wallpapering her online profiles with immigration-critical posts.

Could she be the standard-bearer to beat back the rival party, now leading the incumbents by 20 points? Does a term exist for beating your rivals by becoming exactly like them? And, assuming no phrase fits, maybe we can use an expression from combat sports?

If You’re Enjoying These Developments, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Serves-Them-Right-for-Austerity Way, One Can See Why – But Absolutely Bananas

You don’t even have to consider overseas examples to know this, or reference the scholar's seminal 2017 book, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy: all your cognitive processes is emphasizing it. The mainstream right is the key defense against the far right.

His research conclusion is that democracies survive by keeping the “propertied and powerful” happy. I have reservations as an guiding tenet. It seems as though we’ve been catering to the privileged groups for decades, at the expense of the broader population, and they don't typically become quite happy enough to cease desiring to take a bite out of public assistance.

Yet his research goes beyond conjecture, it’s an thorough historical examination into the historical German conservative group during the pre-war period (in parallel to the UK Tories in that historical context). As moderate conservatism becomes uncertain, if it commences to pursue the rhetoric and gesture-based policies of the far right, it hands them the steering wheel.

Previous Instances Showed Comparable Behavior In the Referendum Aftermath

A key figure aligning with a controversial strategist was one particularly egregious example – but extremist sympathies has become so pronounced now as to overshadow all remaining Conservative messages. What happened to the established party members, who prize stability, conservation, governing principles, the UK reputation on the global scene?

What happened to the modernisers, who portrayed the country in terms of powerhouses, not volatile situations? Don’t get me wrong, I didn't particularly support any of them too, but the contrast is dramatic how such perspectives – the broad-church approach, the reformist element – have been eliminated, replaced by relentless demonisation: of immigrants, religious groups, social support users and demonstrators.

Appear at Podiums to Melodies Evoking the Theme Tune to the Television Drama

Emphasizing issues they reject. They portray rallies by elderly peace activists as “festivals of animosity” and display banners – union flags, English symbols, all objects bearing a splash of matadorial colour – as an clear provocation to those questioning that total cultural alignment is the best thing a human can aspire to.

There doesn’t seem to be any natural braking system, encouraging reassessment with core principles, their traditional foundations, their original agenda. Whatever provocation the Reform leader presents to them, they follow. So, definitely not, there's no pleasure to watch them implode. They are pulling social cohesion along in their decline.