One Nation Conservatives

[ItsPrettyGoodReally]

Hi,

I wondered if there is any chance that some of the current Conservative Party folks will now move over to Reform UK, leaving the remaining Conservative Party to be reclaimed by the more moderate tories like Dominic Grieve, who left over frustration at no deal Brexit?

I'm only asking out of interest and don't have a view on it. I'm a life long Labour voter, but I was quite impressed at those people like Dominic Grieve who left on principle. I would be glad to see them back in parliament.

@Papyrophile

I don't know whether you were replying to my post but I didn't even mention, let alone snipe at small businesses. I was actually summarising the rather appalling history of the Conservative party when it comes to the treatment of society as a whole and their "values" which, as I noted, consisted of a unanimous and extremely venemous rejection of the formation of the NHS. I have great admiration for anyone who runs a small or medium sized business and, yes, I and my family have done so. I also completely agree with your senitments regarding Amazon and in particular the water companies but I didn't castigate any businesses in my post.

I was replying to your post @ginasevern but more to your wholesale condemnation of the "Tories". We have endured a particularly appalling shower of them in the last Parliament. I can't wait to see the back of them, but I remain a small c conservative, with a pronounced liberal bias on gay marriage and social issues. And this thread is about One Nation Conservatism.

I'm well aware of the topic of the thread. I still have no idea what "one nation conservatives" actually means and your post has done nothing to enlighten me. You haven't told me how good that concept is for your small business but chose rather to go on a personal tirade. I'm also baffled that you accused me of sniping at small businesses when I didn't even mention them. Nor did I mention tax, VAT or any of the other issues you raised.

Unlikely.

What is much more likely is that Sunak will resign as Tory leader after the election and the Conservative Party will reinvent itself as a Trump / Orban style right wing nationalist, anti-immigration anti-‘woke’ populist party. It will effectively be a reverse takeover by Reform. This weekend’s EU elections are demonstrating that there is widespread support for this agenda across Europe, and the U.k is no exception. ‘One Nation’ conservatives will be marginalised & ignored.

The party’s target market will be older, predominantly white working & lower middle class voters who didn’t go to university and who feel angry & betrayed by politicians who have talked about border control but allowed decades of uncontrolled mass immigration.

After Rishi resigns Farage wiil probably take over (the reformed conservatives?)and the one nation conservatives will join the lib dems!

The problem is that the electorate are drifting to the poles or possibly being dragged to the poles by party policy- I'm honestly not sure which. I had hope that Labour's drift to the left under Cornyn plus Brexit might spark the formation of a new party comprising the Blairites and the one nation conservatives (who tended to be Remainers) but that hasn't happened. I think one nation conservatism as a political doctrine might well die out because it needs something/ someone to represent it and there are so few of them- most of them have left politics and gone to do something else, which is also a huge problem across the spectrum- the people we most need to stay in politics are the ones with the most attractive options outwith.

I'm not sure if any of you saw Stella Braverman's recent comments to embrace Farage and "unite the right". That basically shows where the Tories are going post July 5th. That leaves a huge centre ground that isn't occupied. Both Lee Dems and Greens are currently to left of Labour in respect of fiscal policy so they cant fill it.

It's going to be an interesting parliament for sure. If I was Kier and wanted to be PM for a long time I'd sideline my left wing and shuffle myself into that centre ground.

FPTP distorts the process and forces parties to be broad churches.

I suspect that but for FPTP we wouldn't have had Brexit.