Can Conservatism Survive?

All the while Blairism ruled the Labour party pragmatic Conservatism could trundle along winning the odd election and still be just about a viable force in British politics but with the emergence and triumph of the hard left Corbyn socialism of Labour it is looking decidedly threadbare,weak,pallid,insipid  compromised and downright shifty by comparison.

 Post mid 90's there was no discernible need for a Thatcher,the socialist dragons had all been slayed, or so it was thought,and it remained merely a managerial task of the tories to run the country efficaciously.Ideology was out the window,buried along with history and post Blair the tories had practically become the unofficial Blairite party. It was the future once.

Then  Labour changed its rules and opened up membership to the general public at £5 a time and it opened the floodgates for all the old hitherto alienated Labour voters  and activists to pile in,swell Labour's ranks exponentially and allow Corbyn to come back from the political dead and take over the party.

Are there lessons for the tories to be learned here? I would say absolutely. It should take a leaf out of Labour's book and do the exact same thing. Membership would double and it would be considerably to the right of the tory MPs, in a cabinet where currently and staggeringly 20 of the 27 members are Remainers (which roughly reflects the stark fact that 75% of all MPs in the House of Commons are Remainers).

This policy if adopted would put some lead in the tories pencil but ultimately I believe it is a victim of its pragmatism which was there from the very start and its pragmatic chickens are only now just coming home to roost. Its decline  and moral disintegration is inoperable and a new party of a liberal,libertarian bent will be the only real and credible counter to Labour's statist authoritarian advance. The only question remaining is  will there even be enough time for such a movement to emerge for Corbynism has taken everyone by surprise including myself and I am not so sure or confident that there will be.