The wasted Tory years are finally over

Interview with Arthur Snell

Arthur Snell, whose podcast and Substack are essential guides to world affairs, had me on to talk about the state of the nation as the long and disastrous period of Conservative rule collapses around us.

You can hear it here on Apple

And on Spotify

We discuss

How the Cameron and Osborne destroyed faith in the UK’s ruling class

How the Brexit victory sent the right mad

Why we should call Farage hard right

And maybe, just maybe, why we can have a TINY bit of hope for the future

One of the features of our rolling crisis is the collapse of the moderate conservatism: first in the US, where supposedly sensible Republicans bent the knee and kissed Trump’s ring, then in the UK, where there the Conservative moderates have suffered continuous defeats since 2016, and now in France.

Below is firm but I hope fair accout of the miserable failure of the UK’s moderates. It’s behind a paywall but there is a free trial.

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How the Conservative "moderates" opened the door for extremists

Before the purge: David Gauke and Boris Johnson in 2019 (CREDIT: GETTY)

Like a rabbi leading a gaggle of mourners to the Wailing Wall, David Gauke has collected a band of distraught Conservative moderates. As they bemoan the collapse of the centre right, one question rises through their sobs.

“What the hell just happened?”

They failed, that’s what happened.

They failed because they could not contain the extremist right and failed to even realise they had a duty to fight extremists until it was too late for them - and this country.

They failed because supposed moderate conservatism was nowhere near as moderate as they flattered themselves into believing.

They failed because their policy of austerity economics created the stagnation that helped push millions into voting for Brexit.

They failed, and are still failing, not only because they cannot accept the faults in their past, but because they have no chance of taking back their party in the future.