Enjoying the Downfall of the Conservative Party? It's Comprehensible – Yet Totally Mistaken

On various occasions when Conservative leaders have sounded reasonably coherent on the surface – and alternate phases where they have come across as completely unhinged, yet continued to be cherished by party loyalists. This is not such a scenario. Kemi Badenoch failed to inspire attendees when she addressed her conference, despite she offered the red meat of anti-immigration sentiment she believed they wanted.

This wasn't primarily that they’d all woken up with a fresh awareness of humanity; rather they were skeptical she’d ever be equipped to implement it. In practice, fake vegan meat. Tories hate that. An influential party member reportedly described it as a “New Orleans funeral”: loud, energetic, but ultimately a parting.

What Next for the Organization With a Decent Case to Make for Itself as the Top-Performing Political Organization in the World?

Certain members are taking another squiz at one contender, who was a hard “no” at the start of the night – but as things conclude, and other candidates has departed. Another group is generating a buzz around a rising star, a young parliamentarian of the newest members, who appears as a Shires Tory while saturating her social media with border-control messaging.

Could she be the leader to counter Reform, now leading the Conservatives by a substantial lead? Can we describe for overcoming competitors by mirroring their stance? Furthermore, if there isn’t, surely we could use an expression from fighting disciplines?

Should You Take Pleasure In Any of This, in a Schadenfreude Way, in a Consequence-Based Way, That Is Understandable – Yet Totally Misguided

You don’t even have to look at the US to know this, or consult Daniel Ziblatt’s influential work, the historical examination: every one of your synapses is screaming it. The mainstream right is the crucial barrier resisting the far right.

Ziblatt’s thesis is that democracies survive by keeping 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 for decades, at the cost of everyone else, and they don't typically become sufficiently content to halt efforts to reduce support out of social welfare.

Yet his research isn’t a hunch, it’s an comprehensive document review into the historical German conservative group during the Weimar Republic (along with the England's ruling party in that historical context). When the mainstream right becomes uncertain, when it starts to adopt the rhetoric and gesture-based policies of the far right, it cedes the control.

We Saw Comparable Behavior During the Brexit Years

The former Prime Minister associating with an influential advisor was a notable instance – but far-right flirtation has become so evident now as to obliterate any other Tory talking points. Whatever became of the old-school Conservatives, who treasure continuity, tradition, governing principles, the national prestige on the world stage?

Where did they go the progressives, who described the nation in terms of economic engines, not tension-filled environments? Don’t get me wrong, I didn't particularly support any of them too, but it's remarkably noticeable how those worldviews – the broad-church approach, the reformist element – have been erased, superseded by constant vilification: of newcomers, Islamic communities, benefit claimants and activists.

They Walk On Stage to Music That Sounds Like the Opening Credits to the Popular Series

And talk about what they cannot stand for any more. They describe demonstrations by older demonstrators as “carnivals of hatred” and employ symbols – British flags, patriotic icons, anything with a vibrant national tones – as an open challenge to those questioning that total cultural alignment is the ultimate achievement a human can aspire to.

There appears to be no any natural braking system, that prompts reflection with fundamental beliefs, their traditional foundations, their stated objectives. Each incentive the political figure offers them, they’ll chase. Therefore, absolutely not, there's no pleasure to watch them implode. They are dragging civil society into the abyss.