The prospect of defeat has liberated the party to lurch further to the right, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee
The prospect of defeat has liberated the party to lurch further to the right. Shame on the centrists who encourage this rabblewant to scare the shit out of you,” Frank Luntz, a focus-grouper to the US right, proclaimed to the Tory party audience. He hardly needed to. “You know the average age of the Labour voter? 38-40. The average age of the Tory voter? Deceased.” Nervous laughs. At every “whither the future” event, speakers quote theshowing only 1% of 18-24s back their party.
The damage is deep and permanent. By the election, prices will still be rising, with austerity, empty purses, food bank shame and NHS near-collapse no better than now, whatever the headlines on slowing inflation. Public memory of the disgraceful Boris Johnson hardly needs the reminder from, which will show how disgusting were those 15 parties recorded by Sue Gray, with puking, fighting and drunken, entitled toff special advisers mocking those forced to let their grandparents die alone.
The near-certainty of defeat seems to liberate the party from all constraint, unleashing the freedom to plunge as far right as it likes, free to ignore public opinion. The noise all comes from the right, with the top contenders Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch turning an exit from the European court of human rights into their new Brexit drumbeat. Groupuscules launch their own manifestos, such as the Northern Research Group and the New Conservatives, the party’s moral army.
Why would anyone aspire to lead this rabble? If the prime minister is indeed an intelligent, diligent and serious man, what was he doing appointing Braverman as home secretary or Lee Anderson as deputy chairman, encouraging this flight to the right? Either he’s a coward, afraid of the bully wing of his party, or he wants useful outriders to speak the unspeakable, which is shameful. Or else he agrees with them. He may be as rich as Midas, but his touch turns everything to dross.
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