A new workers’ party

We are living through the most intense political drama in modern British history. The vote to leave the European Union is the greatest act of defiance against the establishment since the coming of universal suffrage. It has triggered leadership challenges crises in the three most popular political parties: Labour, the Conservatives and Ukip. As Tony Blair might have put it, the kaleidoscope has been shaken and the pieces are in flux. We’re midway through a very British revolution.

As in other revolutions, a seismic event has caused a vacuum. It turns out that Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were telling the truth about not using the referendum campaign to further their leadership ambitions. Had either been thinking seriously about Downing Street, they might have had something resembling a plan on the weekend after the referendum. Neither man did, and they have both paid the price. Their spectacular falling out has left Tory MPs thinking only about who must come next. The more important question is what must come next.

Brexit has raised the stakes: the risks are higher, but so are the rewards if the government can plot the right course. With the Labour party in no fit state to even challenge for power, that responsibility — and the opportunity — falls to the Tories.

For years, Tony Blair’s pro-market, pro-reform Labour party denied the Tories political oxygen. But that party has collapsed — or, rather, is collapsing. The EU referendum debate saw a third of Labour voters go against their party over Brexit. Rather than thinking of ways of reconnecting with their voters, Labour MPs are seriously considering the creation of a pro-EU, metropolitan party unsullied by the unfashionable opinions of the working class. An attempt to remove Jeremy Corbyn through mass resignations from the front bench has succeeded only in exposing the desperate plight of the party.