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Throughout history when Tory figureheads have seemed reasonably coherent outwardly – and different periods where they have sounded completely unhinged, yet remained popular by their base. This is not such a scenario. A leading Tory didn't energize the audience when she addressed her conference, even as she presented the red meat of anti-immigration sentiment she believed they wanted.

This wasn't primarily that they’d all arisen with a revived feeling of humanity; more that they lacked faith she’d ever be in a position to deliver it. In practice, a substitute. Conservatives despise that. One senior Conservative reportedly described it as a “jazz funeral”: loud, animated, but ultimately a parting.

Coming Developments for this Party That Can Reasonably Claim to Make for Itself as the Most Historically Successful Governing Force in the World?

Some are having a fresh look at a particular MP, who was a definite refusal at the start of the night – but with proceedings winding down, and rivals has left. Some are fostering a buzz around a newer MP, a recently elected representative of the latest cohort, who presents as a traditional Conservative while filling her online profiles with border-control messaging.

Might she become the figurehead to counter opposition forces, now leading the incumbents by a significant margin? Does a term exist for beating your rivals by adopting their policies? Moreover, should one not exist, surely we could adopt a term from fighting disciplines?

If You’re Enjoying Such Events, in a How-the-Mighty-Are-Fallen Way, in a Consequence-Based Way, It's Comprehensible – But Completely Irrational

One need not examine America to understand this, nor read Daniel Ziblatt’s groundbreaking study, his analysis of political systems: all your cognitive processes is screaming it. Moderate conservatism is the essential firewall preventing the far right.

His research conclusion is that democracies survive by appeasing 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 ages, at the cost of everyone else, and they rarely appear adequately satisfied to halt efforts to make cuts out of disability benefits.

Yet his research goes beyond conjecture, it’s an comprehensive document review into the pre-Nazi German National People’s Party during the interwar Germany (combined with the UK Tories circa 1906). As moderate conservatism becomes uncertain, if it commences to pursue the buzzwords and symbolic politics of the far right, it hands them the control.

We Saw Some of This Throughout the EU Exit Process

Boris Johnson associating with a controversial strategist was a clear case – but extremist sympathies has become so pronounced now as to obliterate any other Tory talking points. Where are the established party members, who prize stability, 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 volatile situations? Don’t get me wrong, I had reservations regarding both groups as well, but it’s absolutely striking how these ideologies – the one nation Tory, the modernizing wing – have been erased, replaced by constant vilification: of immigrants, Islamic communities, benefit claimants and activists.

Appear at Podiums to Music That Sounds Like the Theme Tune to Game of Thrones

Emphasizing what they cannot stand for any more. They describe demonstrations by elderly peace activists as “displays of hostility” and use flags – union flags, patriotic icons, any item featuring a splash of matadorial colour – as an clear provocation to anyone who doesn’t think that complete national identity is the highest ideal a person could possibly be.

There appears to be no any built-in restraint, encouraging reassessment with fundamental beliefs, their traditional foundations, their stated objectives. Any stick the Reform leader throws for them, they pursue. Therefore, absolutely not, there's no pleasure to watch them implode. They are dragging social cohesion into the abyss.