Splintering Conservatives

The trouble with political “splinter groups” , of which the Conservatives seem today to have several, is that they always put ideology before practicality. That’s what defeated Liz Truss as Prime Minister – her apparent ignorance of the solid rule that politics is the “Art of the Possible”.

Yes Truss’s ideology was utterly flawed but that was less damaging than that she rushed into office like a bull in a china shop. Little more than a year after this disaster she’s at it again. This time with the launch of the oxymoronic “Popular Conservatism”. Oh dear

In a way you have to admire Ms Truss who is bouncing again like Tigger but without the brainpower. If at first you don’t succeed…

JFK had his hundred days which seemed rather a short time to judge him, but we did. Mostly positively as I recall. Truss had half that time and actually tried to shake the system far more than Kennedy did. Margaret Thatcher, at heart just at least as ideological as Truss, had a few wise folk around her and by comparison with La Truss took her time. Wisely.

The splinter groups like Lizzie’s new one are all freakishly ideological and talk only in slogans. What the heck does “Restore democratic accountability mean?” My “favourite” was also Ms Truss’s the “anti growth coalition” about which the Financial Times wrote “the absurdity of the term is matched by its hypocrisy.”

Cliché it may be but creating political change is like manoeuvring an oil tanker. Politicians need to know it takes time to turn things around. And you do, to some extent, have to stay in the shipping lane. Britain’s most dramatic change in generations, Brexit, actually sank the tanker. That Brexit was a “big idea” there’s no doubt. But the “Take back control” slogan was superficial nonsense. Control of what, and why? We weren’t told.

Keir Starmer has taken years to restore Labour’s credibility after the disaster of Corbyn. The latter showed that it’s not just the Tories who can pursue ideologically extreme policies. Sir Keir is distancing himself from any commitments that might suggest he’s strayed from the Centre ground. It’s a bit bland and dull (“Where’s the beef?) but it should work, let’s hope so.