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Throughout history when party chiefs have sounded reasonably coherent superficially – and alternate phases where they have come across as animal crackers, yet continued to be cherished by their party. We are not in either of those times. One prominent Conservative didn't energize the audience when she presented to her conference, even as she threw out the red meat of anti-immigration sentiment she thought they wanted.

This wasn't primarily that they’d all woken up with a renewed sense of humanity; more that they were skeptical she’d ever be equipped to implement it. In practice, an imitation. The party dislikes such approaches. An influential party member apparently called it a “New Orleans funeral”: boisterous, energetic, but nonetheless a farewell.

What Next for this Party That Can Reasonably Claim to Make for Itself as the Top-Performing Democratic Party in the World?

A faction is giving a fresh look at Robert Jenrick, who was a firm rejection at the outset – but as things conclude, and rivals has departed. Another group is generating a buzz around a newer MP, a recently elected representative of the 2024 intake, who presents as a countryside-based politician while wallpapering her online profiles with anti-migrant content.

Could she be the figurehead to counter opposition forces, now leading the Conservatives by a significant margin? Is there a word for beating your rivals by adopting their policies? And, assuming no phrase fits, surely we could use an expression from martial arts?

When Finding Satisfaction In These Developments, in a Schadenfreude Way, in a Consequence-Based Way, That Is Understandable – However Totally Misguided

One need not look at the US to understand this, nor read Daniel Ziblatt’s seminal 2017 book, the historical examination: your entire mental framework is screaming it. Moderate conservatism is the essential firewall resisting the far right.

Ziblatt’s thesis is that representative governments persist by keeping the “wealthy and influential” happy. Personally, I question this as an guiding tenet. One gets the impression as though we’ve been keeping the propertied and powerful for ages, at the detriment of the broader population, and they don't typically become adequately satisfied to stop wanting to make cuts out of public assistance.

Yet his research goes beyond conjecture, it’s an archival deep dive into the Weimar-era political organization during the pre-war period (combined with the British Conservatives around the early 1900s). As moderate conservatism loses its confidence, when it starts to chase the buzzwords and symbolic politics of the far right, it cedes the steering wheel.

There Were Examples Similar Patterns During the Brexit Years

The former Prime Minister aligning with a controversial strategist was a notable instance – but extremist sympathies has become so obvious now as to overshadow all remaining Conservative messages. What happened to the established party members, who treasure continuity, conservation, the constitution, the pride of Britain on the international platform?

Where did they go the reformers, who defined the United Kingdom in terms of powerhouses, not tension-filled environments? Don’t get me wrong, I had reservations regarding any of them either, but the contrast is dramatic how such perspectives – the broad-church approach, the modernizing wing – have been marginalized, superseded by relentless demonisation: of immigrants, religious groups, benefit claimants and protesters.

Appear at Podiums to Themes Resembling the Theme Tune to the Popular Series

While discussing what they cannot stand for any more. They describe rallies by elderly peace activists as “displays of hostility” and use flags – union flags, Saint George’s flags, anything with a vibrant national tones – as an open challenge to anyone who doesn’t think that being British through and through is the highest ideal a person could possibly be.

There appears to be no any built-in restraint, that prompts reflection with their own values, their traditional foundations, their stated objectives. Whatever provocation Nigel Farage offers them, they’ll chase. So, definitely not, it isn't enjoyable to observe their collapse. They’re taking social cohesion along in their decline.