Conservative Tribulations
| Author | Peter Geoghegan |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058221147585 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
DECEMBER 2022•POLITICAL INSIGHT3
Conservative
Tribulations
Britain’s Conservatives have
been called the world’s most
successful political party. And
with good reason. The Tories
dominated British politics through the
19th, 20th and – at least so far – the 21st
centuries.
Even during Margaret Thatcher’s radical
economic project in the 1980s, the Tories
based their electoral appeal on the party’s
putative ability to deliver stability and
prosperity. Trust on the economy has long
been the Conservatives’ electoral trump
card over Labour.
More recently, however, the
Conservatives look far from, well,
conservative. Britain’s ‘party of
government’ has burned through five
prime ministers in barely six years. The
most recent incumbent, Liz Truss, lasted
just 49 days in office – but managed to
bequeath an economic calamity that
at one point threatened Britain’s entire
financial system.
Countless column inches have been
dedicated to the Conservatives’ current
penchant for division and in-fighting.
The Tory back benches are now split into
an alphabet soup of competing interest
groups, from the staunchly pro-Brexit
European Research Group that did so
much to bring down Theresa May, to the
anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group.
But, as Tim Bale argues in this month’s
cover feature, the rapid turnover of
Conservative leaders since 2016, isn’t
just about Brexit. Indeed, the Tories’ taste
for regicide has as much to do with MPs’
estimates of their leaders’ electoral viability
as it does with more profound ideological
fissures: many Tory MPs took one look at
Liz Truss’s stilted public performances and
another at the opinion polls, and decided
that their only possibility of surviving
beyond the next general election was to
eject Truss – and Trussonomics – as swiftly
as possible.
One change that Truss did manage to
introduce during her short time in office
was in the Downing Street operation
that surrounds the prime minister. Truss
slimmed down the Downing Street Policy
Unit and stacked it with appointees
from right-wing think tanks. Whether
these changes survive under Rishi Sunak
remains to be seen, writes Max Stafford,
as he examines the ongoing changes
and reforms to the running of Downing
Street’s political operation over the past
25 years.
The tumult in Westminster has drawn
unflattering comparisons with Italy,
which, remarkably, has had almost 70
governments since World War II. In this
issue, Mattia Zulianello reports on the
most recent Italian General Election – in
September – which saw a party with neo-
fascist roots, the Brothers of Italy, emerge
as the most powerful force in Italian
politics.
‘We made history’, the Brothers of Italy’s
leader Giorgia Meloni declared in the
wake of an election that saw her party
win almost a quarter of the vote. The
success of the far-right in Italy could have
ramifications well beyond the country’s
borders, with like-minded parties across
Europe looking to emulate its success.
However, Meloni’s ruling coalition is far
from united and could struggle in an
Italian Parliament notorious for internal
coups and sudden government collapses.
Another major change since the last
issue was the death, in September, of
Queen Elizabeth II. The world’s longest
serving monarch at the time of her
death, Elizabeth II had overseen a huge
transformation in British life – and in
Britain’s overseas Empire. In this issue’s
In Focus, Benjamin D. Hennig maps the
changing shape of the British Empire over
the last 70 years.
Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine
continues. Richard Rose suggests that
the conflict could give Britain something
it has long searched for – a role on the
world stage. The UK, Rose argues, is
adroitly placed to act as an interlocutor
between the United States and a
European continent threatened by Russian
aggression.
The future of the United Kingdom
itself remains a burning question. As the
Northern Ireland census records more
Catholics than Protestants for the first
time, Jon Tonge examines the likelihood
of a border poll on a united Ireland – and
finds that pro-unity politicians still need to
convince the growing ‘non-aligned’ middle
in Northern Ireland.
Scottish independence remains
a live issue, too. In October, the UK
Supreme Court heard arguments on the
competence of the Scottish Parliament
to adopt a second Independence
Referendum Act. Sionaidh Douglas-Scott
examines the legal arguments and finds
that, whatever the legal outcome, the
issue of Scottish independence is not
going away.
Rishi Sunak might hope for a quiet
period in British politics – but that
seems highly unlikely. As the turmoil and
tumult continues,
Political Insight
will
be here to bring an expert lens to bear
on developments across the political
landscape, in the UK and around the
world. Thanks for all your support in 2022
– and I look forward to seeing you all next
year!
Peter Geoghegan
Editor
Political Insight December 2022.indd 3Political Insight December 2022.indd 314/11/2022 11:1314/11/2022 11:13
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