Copyright newsletter
There is a fundamental flaw in comments made by the former prime minister Sir John Major about the Tory party he once led. As we report on page 12, Sir John Major has accused the Conservatives of a “loss of pragmatism, tolerance, nuance” and of lurching “too far to the right”. Sir John said that the party's new, more robust approach to policies alienates most voters. The largest block of voters, he said, is moderate. That is true, but his analysis is badly lacking, and he of all politicians should know why. Sir John was first swept into the House of Commons as an MP in the general election of 1979 that brought Margaret Thatcher to power. No shortage of Tory grandees then thought that she was too right wing, but a large enough section of the electorate ignored their squeamishness. Mrs Thatcher’s firm right-wing agenda had been made necessary by the political moderation and consensus that preceded it. The Labour Party government of the 1960s, followed by Ted Heath’s four-year Tory government at the start of the 1970s, then Labour’s return from 1974 to 79 resulted in far too big a state, far too high taxes and far too much power to the trade unions. Mrs Thatcher was almost the only leading mainstream politician prepared to stand up to that – and in 11 years, from 1979 to 1990, she remade Britain, implementing reforms that have stood for the better part of 50 years. Sir John emerged as Tory leader after her time in Downing Street, when there was indeed an appetite for a gentler form of conservatism. However, his premiership began a fresh period of consensus that has dominated UK politics for 30+ years. Now many voters are again fed up with that moderation between the parties, and some of the disasters that have flowed from it, such as out of control immigration. This is why the Tories and Reform UK outpolled Labour in last year’s election.
