They Wrecked Britain, and They're Not Going Anywhere

[Zorro]

As Britain prepares for the coronation of its new king, an end-of-days feeling is sweeping the nation. In an atmosphere of social unrest, economic dysfunction and government corruption, deep political disillusionment has set in. The Conservative Party is polling 15 points behind the opposition, and the popularity of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives’ fifth leader in seven years, remains obstinately low. After years of Tory misrule, the opinion of the British public seems clear: We’ve had enough.

And with good reason. For over a decade, the Conservatives have ransacked the country they claim to love, unmooring it from its foundations and enriching their chums. While the wealth of the very richest rocketed, the party’s program of austerity, begun by David Cameron in 2010 and continued by each Conservative prime minister since, starved public services, created one of the most miserly welfare states in the developed world and contributed to the longest period of wage stagnation — for many, wage regression — since the Napoleonic Wars. Life expectancy is down, child poverty is up, and there are few signs of a reprieve on the horizon. Life under the Tories has become poorer, nastier, more brutish and shorter.

The travesty of the Tories’ legacy has led some to wonder whether the next election, to be held by January 2025, will prove terminal. But these obituaries are premature. The party’s ancient history — which stretches back beyond their baptism as the Conservatives in the 1830s and into the 17th century — tells us that, whether in government or in opposition, the Conservatives will continue to find ways to adapt and preserve power. No matter what happens in the next election, the historic vessel of Britain’s ruling class is not going anywhere.

By many accounts, the Conservative Party is not just the oldest but also the most successful political party in the world. Since 1884, when workers made up a majority of the electorate for the first time, the Conservatives have defied their own doubts about democracy to remain in government for two-thirds of the time. They have won eight of the past 11 elections. Their main opposition, the Labour Party, by contrast, spends most of the time as just that: the opposition. Next year, Tony Blair will be the only Labour leader to have won an election in half a century.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/opinion/britain-conservative-party-coronation.html?unlocked_article_code=8P1n6IJ35HKrxGumAyq1vFqHJXyeBjRM9C6JCww3bidBM0-Ppe-57a_WPqptsbs1y0yrubNrclTpMEnZiBYAJcyC0BxNkjtqV7VmgSa9LpPYOD6ytA7hfTTovrZQaR2vcJJehOW9akNKwpq8y7PAR9LOHDkudfmd3iWv98TO-BDJPL43iE_ldw1tvYIXPHpB_1pOsFqupJDkGaZfzuS4LF97Tp3Iq4bh6Q9Hn5_l69tvjGBSUfsoHw1BRfCmG3rtnOC_bsPhdktg98tLgDWSE942AeBCRkPx-ocqIwJ426IMnnGIKvRQmc_n8BXE_i4utuPovIb_XsJru46qa8y97BWwCXdUqWHbAo3PNSfaLA&giftCopy=0_NoCopy&smid=url-share

[not fooled]

1. Gee, that sounds familiar.

although not as bad in the U.S. Plus, we never had a NHS to dismantle (although Medicare privatization continues apace).

Apparently UK voters are no more discerning than voters here. When will voters wake up?

[marybourg]

2. In my opinion, this started with Margaret Thatcher,

not David Cameron. She defunded cultural institutions such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, the BBC, and
social services such as the NHS, Council Housing and services to the elderly.

[stopdiggin]

3. in the post-war era

the public (by first hand example) had a gut level understanding and real desire for a government role in public life. It took about 30 years (or one generation) for the wealthy (on both sides of the pond) to persuade the working class that this was all a huge misunderstanding, and not at all the way things really ought to work.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. Brexit was a self inflicted

Wound. I don't know what the UK intends to do - we've seen the worst globally- especially those of us in the Global Trade Community. But they have to save themselves.

[dalton99a]

5. Britain could have used a French revolution

A good and thorough cleansing