The great paradox of the Tory party is that its predicament in recent years reflects not failure, but success. For 18 years it was in government, for 11 of them under one of the most influential prime ministers in history. The Conservatives dominated the 20th century: Austen Chamberlain and William Hague were the only two party leaders in those triumphant 100 years not to reach No. 10. So it is scarcely surprising that the Tory movement, in its DNA, believes the default position in this country to be a Conservative government.
But David Cameron’s great insight has been to grasp that the so-called ‘pendulum’ of politics will not necessarily swing back to the Tories and that the British people have not been in the grip of a protracted bout of ‘false consciousness’ since 1997, a collective delusion from which the voters will snap out once they are presented with a robustly traditional Conservative alternative. Mr Cameron understands that modern opposition parties must pass many tests, clear many hurdles and adapt to change explicitly and unambiguously if they are to reclaim the favour of the electorate. The British public no longer sees the Tory party as the political wing of the natural social order.
Michael Ancram’s bizarre attack upon Mr Cameron this week was both wrong-headed and cruelly timed given the problems the Tory tribe has experienced adjusting to Gordon Brown’s formidable challenge. As chairman and deputy leader of his party, Mr Ancram was often furious with those who dressed up disloyalty as unctuously helpful candour — and rightly so. It is sad to see him making life so easy for Labour and nurturing the impression of deeply entrenched division in his own party.
Mr Ancram says that Tories must beware of ‘trashing our past or appearing ashamed of our history’.
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