Nigel Farage Is Killing the Conservative Party and Starmer Must Change Course to Avoid the Same Fate
Byline Times is an independent, reader-funded investigative newspaper, outside of the system of the established press, reporting on 'what the papers don't say' - without fear or favour.
To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.
Help us build the better media Britain deserves
"I'm sad to be in opposition but there's a part of me that's excited," Kemi Badenoch told the Conservative party conference last October.
"We are going to have fun."
Fast forward to this morning and there was little sign of either the "excitement", or "fun" the Conservative leader predicted last year.
Far from being unleashed from the political chains of office, Badenoch continues to be heavily tied to them.
Right across the country, in a set of local elections heavily dominated by former Conservative strongholds, the party continues to be severely punished by voters, as they switch in huge numbers to Reform and the Liberal Democrats instead.
The reasons for last year's defeat have already been well dissected. Fourteen years of low growth, public sector austerity and administrative incompetence lay the ground for a historic collapse in support for a party which had previously been the most electorally successful in Britain's history.
Yet while in the past recently ousted governing parties quickly regained support in opposition, the opposite now appears to be happening with the Conservatives. Even in the face of growing global economic uncertainty, and an unpopular new Labour government, these results show that Badenoch's party continues to go backwards.
The reasons for this go well beyond the Conservatives' recent record in office, to the much more fundamental question of who the party is now actually for.
Blue Labour on MAGA Square: Maurice Glasman's Journey to Trumpism
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar look at the nationalist populist drift of Labour's anti-progressive tendency
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar
A Failed Realignment
Ever since Brexit, the question of who the Conservative party stands for has been one that Tory politicians have struggled with. For Boris Johnson the answer lay in uniting socially conservative non-metropolitan voters, in opposition to a coalition of Labour's socially-liberal, university-educated, metropolitan base.
This strategy, which centred around a relatively small number of constituencies in the so-called "red wall" ultimately failed once the hollowness of Johnson's promises to "level up" those parts of the country became clear. Yet while Johnson's "realignment" ultimately proved illusory, it was at least a clear electoral strategy. The same cannot be said for what followed it.
In the wake of Liz Truss' devastating kamikaze raid on the Conservative party's economic reputation, Conservative party leaders quickly switched to an equally devastating raid on their own record on immigration. Begi
To support its work, subscribe to the monthly Byline Times print edition, packed with exclusive investigations, news, and analysis.
Help us build the better media Britain deserves
"I'm sad to be in opposition but there's a part of me that's excited," Kemi Badenoch told the Conservative party conference last October.
"We are going to have fun."
Fast forward to this morning and there was little sign of either the "excitement", or "fun" the Conservative leader predicted last year.
Far from being unleashed from the political chains of office, Badenoch continues to be heavily tied to them.
Right across the country, in a set of local elections heavily dominated by former Conservative strongholds, the party continues to be severely punished by voters, as they switch in huge numbers to Reform and the Liberal Democrats instead.
The reasons for last year's defeat have already been well dissected. Fourteen years of low growth, public sector austerity and administrative incompetence lay the ground for a historic collapse in support for a party which had previously been the most electorally successful in Britain's history.
Yet while in the past recently ousted governing parties quickly regained support in opposition, the opposite now appears to be happening with the Conservatives. Even in the face of growing global economic uncertainty, and an unpopular new Labour government, these results show that Badenoch's party continues to go backwards.
The reasons for this go well beyond the Conservatives' recent record in office, to the much more fundamental question of who the party is now actually for.
Blue Labour on MAGA Square: Maurice Glasman's Journey to Trumpism
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar look at the nationalist populist drift of Labour's anti-progressive tendency
Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar
A Failed Realignment
Ever since Brexit, the question of who the Conservative party stands for has been one that Tory politicians have struggled with. For Boris Johnson the answer lay in uniting socially conservative non-metropolitan voters, in opposition to a coalition of Labour's socially-liberal, university-educated, metropolitan base.
This strategy, which centred around a relatively small number of constituencies in the so-called "red wall" ultimately failed once the hollowness of Johnson's promises to "level up" those parts of the country became clear. Yet while Johnson's "realignment" ultimately proved illusory, it was at least a clear electoral strategy. The same cannot be said for what followed it.
In the wake of Liz Truss' devastating kamikaze raid on the Conservative party's economic reputation, Conservative party leaders quickly switched to an equally devastating raid on their own record on immigration. Begi
Activity