'If there is a new party with good Conservative values, does it matter what it is called?' asks Lady Judith McAlpine
Who will save the Tories?
As far as I and many others are concerned the only one with a cat in Hell's chance would be Boris.. and he's not in the running. Why would he? He's a staunch Conservative but the party he believed in has ceased to exist and has now to be rebuilt. By whom? Farage?
I find it frustrating that all my informants believe that Nigel, along with Richard Tice and possibly others are still hell-bent on annihilating the remains of the Conservatives rather than assimilating those whose aims accord with those of Reform. I've not had the chance to ask the question directly. Nor have I asked Boris his view on this. He's been a bit busy getting out the book and I believe there is another in the pipeline so we may not hear from him any time soon.
Meanwhile, the party he loved is thrown to a few wolves.
I no longer know who might be GOOD for the party: but I do know that it is not Ms. Badenoch. She was being "groomed" by the cabal at Central Office to replace Rishi, but Rishi jumped before he could be pushed.
That cabal is still there and, as someone pointed out, as they are running the selection process, it is hardly likely that any of the candidates are going to call for a mass resignation and it is less likely that a candidate who wants to sack them all as soon as they achieve the leadership is going to have a cat in Hell's chance of becoming leader. So is there to be no change? Will there be another puppet in place?
I fancy Tom Tugendhat if only because he is the only one of the hopefuls who has actually said that Central Office needs a clean-up. Would he be a good leader? No idea. He's a nice chap, he talks sense. Why not? He's probably written his own obit by suggesting that "clean-up".
The problem facing those who must choose is that until someone is "in power" we have no real idea how they will behave. I was at a funeral the other day where Liz Truss made a really good speech and I was struck by the fact that she is a really nice person, a very good constituency MP; but was a terrible Prime Minister.
We all thought that might be the case but watched as she was wafted into office with no opposition once the "cabal" had ensured that Boris was removed from the race and she was a much worse PM than any of us had imagined.
Is this what will happen again? Will all the others be mysteriously de-selected so that Ms Badenoch can triumph? Or will she persuade the members at Conference that she really IS the person they want? Heaven help us!
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So - I'm back to Nigel. While Boris is busy, Nigel is gathering ex-Conservatives around him; but he doesn't have enough MPs. If he worked WITH the few Conservative MPs, accepting that most really do have the same aims and values as he has, he would see the current support for Reform by ordinary Conservative members turning into a tsunami which might put Reform ahead at the next election (which must surely be in less than five years?).
From a committed Conservative this sounds like heresy; but frankly, if it is a new party with good Conservative values, does it really matter what it is called?
I don't think so... nor do a lot of those to whom I have spoken recently. I hear there is talk of Reform cuddling up to the Liberals. Really? That doesn't make sense. They don't speak the same language.
Please can we now have a Conservative Leader who is a proper, old-fashioned Conservative, can speak his/her own mind, and not be operated by unseen strings from stage left.. or right? And, who will listen to the Members!
