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On various occasions when Conservative leaders have sounded almost sensible superficially – and different periods where they have come across as wildly irrational, yet were still adored by party loyalists. Currently, it's far from such a scenario. A leading Tory failed to inspire attendees when she addressed her conference, despite she threw out the provocative rhetoric of border-focused rhetoric she assumed they wanted.

It’s not so much that they’d all woken up with a fresh awareness of humanity; rather they lacked faith she’d ever be able to follow through. In practice, a substitute. The party dislikes such approaches. One senior Conservative apparently called it a “jazz funeral”: noisy, animated, but nonetheless a goodbye.

Coming Developments for the Organization With a Decent Case to Make for Itself as the Top-Performing Political Organization in History?

Certain members are taking renewed consideration at one contender, who was a definite refusal at the start of the night – but now it’s the end, and other candidates has left. Another group is generating a excitement around Katie Lam, a recently elected representative of the 2024 intake, who appears as a traditional Conservative while wallpapering her online profiles with anti-migrant content.

Might she become the leader to challenge opposition forces, now leading the Conservatives by a substantial lead? Does a term exist for beating your rivals by mirroring their stance? And, should one not exist, perhaps we might use an expression from martial arts?

When Finding Satisfaction In Such Events, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Consequence-Based Way, That Is Understandable – Yet Absolutely Bananas

You don’t even have to look at the US to grasp this point, nor read Daniel Ziblatt’s groundbreaking study, Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy: your entire mental framework is screaming it. Centrist right-wing parties is the key defense resisting the far right.

His research conclusion is that political systems endure by satisfying the “propertied and powerful” happy. Personally, I question this as an organising principle. It seems as though we’ve been keeping the privileged groups for decades, at the detriment of other citizens, and they never seem quite happy enough to cease desiring to reduce support out of public assistance.

But his analysis isn’t a hunch, it’s an archival deep dive into the pre-Nazi German National People’s Party during the interwar Germany (in parallel to the British Conservatives around the early 1900s). Once centrist parties becomes uncertain, if it commences to adopt the rhetoric and symbolic politics of the far right, it cedes the control.

There Were Examples Similar Patterns During the Brexit Years

Boris Johnson aligning with Steve Bannon was a clear case – but radical alignment has become so obvious now as to eliminate competing Conservative messages. Where are the traditional Tories, who treasure predictability, conservation, legal frameworks, the national prestige on the world stage?

What happened to the progressives, who described the country in terms of economic engines, not volatile situations? Let me emphasize, I wasn’t wild about any of them too, but the contrast is dramatic how these ideologies – the broad-church approach, the Cameroonian Conservative – have been marginalized, replaced by relentless demonisation: of immigrants, religious groups, benefit claimants and demonstrators.

Take the Platform to Themes Resembling the Opening Credits to Game of Thrones

While discussing issues they reject. They describe rallies by 75-year-old pacifists as “carnivals of hatred” and use flags – British flags, patriotic icons, any item featuring a vibrant national tones – as an open challenge to anyone who doesn’t think that complete national identity is the best thing a human can aspire to.

There doesn’t seem to be any inherent moderation, that prompts reflection with fundamental beliefs, their historical context, their own plan. Whatever provocation the Reform leader throws for them, they pursue. Therefore, no, there's no pleasure to observe their collapse. They are pulling democratic norms down with them.