by David Cameron is back from outer space to tell us that Nigel Farage is trying to destroy the Conservative Party, is playing “dog whistle” politics and, we can conclude, the Tories should run a mile away . So the battle lines of the next leadership contest are drawn. It is the minority who will say that the party has strayed too far to the Right – a view supported by a billion stagnant podcasts made by people who think the Today program is not subjective enough.
Let’s put this myth to rest so I don’t have to write this column again. The Tories are not the right wing party. He won in 2019 when people thought he was right-wing, that he would implement Brexit, reduce immigration and lower taxes. It’s losing out now due to higher taxes, very high migration and a Brexit that you think never happened (unless you try to smuggle a dog into Ulster).
In addition, the Tories are losing not to Reform but to Labour, which is pretending to be low tax and low immigration. While one or two polls show Reform neck and neck with or more than the Tories, others are hovering around 14 percent.
In fact Reform is not as popular as Ukip was under David Cameron, when it came first in the 2014 European elections and won two seats in Parliament. He hit 25 percent once in the polls; in July 2013, he stood within one point of leading the Tories, who remained 13 per cent behind Labour. Nostalgic wimps forget that Ed Miliband led Cameron for much of the Coalition’s tenure, or that George Osborne was booed at the 2012 Paralympics (the pinnacle of Big Society Britain).
George has also intervened this year, citing John Major’s advice that “we will never win while we are still in control of the party’s hard right”. In 2024, I’m not sure who this hard-Right is or who is supposed to be ripping them off. Liz Truss? Jacob Rees-Mogg? They were all relegated to the back benches and sadly ignored. As for Major, he lost in 1997 because the country suffered a painful recession and the Tories raised taxes to cover it. Fascism didn’t help, granted, but papering over the cracks is exactly the job of a leader.
Overall, there is a better case for claiming that David Cameron destroyed the Tory party than Farage. If you’re a Remainer, you’d say he was guilty of doing exactly what he’s warning the Tories against: he dominated the “swivel-eyed loons” by promising an in/out referendum – and cut down on “green. crap” and failing to label multiculturalism. As Prime Minister, Dave blew enough whistles to cause a riot at Crufts.
If you’re a Brexiteer, on the other hand, the problem with Dave was that he thrived on alienating traditionalists. The centrists believe that for every right-wing vote the Conservatives deliberately lose, they gain four from the centre. But Farage has proven that you still need a medal to win; Starmer, that the middle is mobile. The center in 2024 has shifted significantly to the Right. So, when asked at the ITV debate whether he wanted to reduce legal migration, all four main parties raised their hands – including the Lib Dems.
Maybe they are all wrong. Maybe immigration is a moral good and we need more of it – in that case, why didn’t the previous Tory leaders explain to us other than creating an unrealistic policy to reduce net migration to the ” thousands”. Remind me: who did that?
Brexit did not destroy the Conservative Party; he revived it in 2019. Farage did not destroy the Conservative Party; he made a Boris majority possible by effectively pulling out of that election. The shutdown destroyed the chance of any government being re-elected by destroying the economy, the work ethic and the NHS. But Cameron also destroyed the party’s ability to weather such storms by alienating Toorism from its constituency and philosophy. Deprived of soil and water, he lies dying.
To put matters into perspective
“Conservatism”, said Peter Hitchens recently, “is the love of God, of country and family, of liberty, of truth, of duty, of courage, of the law of the land, of tradition, of beauty and of the honor.” I might say “love Midsomer Murders”, but the opposite: “bingo”. According to this definition, the greatest moment in conservatism, as Rishi Sunak seems to believe, was not Nigel Lawson’s 1988 budget but when Jose Sanchez del Rio, executed by Mexican revolutionaries, used his last breath to cross a draw the ground with his blood.
Contrast that with the Conservative manifesto, which has no coherent statement of philosophy and, with its retail offer of policies we can’t afford, has all the idealism of the Argos catalogue. As the election drags on, the Tories don’t care – Penny Mordaunt shouting “higher tax!” by panelists saddened by The Weakest Link – and people are happier that they are still in office, or that there is any government.
Only in the kingdom of dogs can it be seen clearly. In a nearby park last week, dogs queued up – actually took turns – to roll something in. “Don’t worry,” said a woman, “it’s just a worm.” And my dog, when he took a few tumbles, took some sun on his belly and refused to move. He tanned himself on top of a worm, oblivious to polls, tax rises or Sir Keir Starmer.
