No other country, wrote Karl Marx in 1854, was so ripe for revolution as Britain. How wrong can you be? Despite two world wars, innumerable booms and busts, not to mention the extension of the franchise to the lower orders, 170-odd years later Britain’s ruling class are (or were until recently) almost as firmly in the saddle as they have ever been. Their influence, not to say control, over the commanding heights remains almost as absolute as ever.
The facts are stark. Not for nothing is the Conservative party widely regarded as the most formidable electoral machine in Europe. It has been in power for roughly two thirds of its 200-year history. Of its 19 leaders, only four have failed to win at least one election (and three of those were up against Tony Blair). In contrast, only four of Labour’s 19 leaders have ever won an election. Recent Tory prime ministers have included two Etonians and a Wykehamist. Marx would be astounded. Samuel Earle writes:
At the very least one might expect that the Conservatives’ ascendancy would be the subject of endless debate and dissection… But the success of the Conservatives is remarkable not only for its longevity but also for the strange incuriousness that accompanies it… What does it say about the party, and what does it say about us?
These are questions he seeks to address.
One of the Tories’ greatest historical achievements, he says, has been to secure the consistent support of at least one third of working-class voters and – in the recent election – almost half. The winning formula, he argues, has been to present themselves as the party of patriotism and economic competence, combined with a fair degree of pragmatism and a ruthless appeal to base instincts on issues such as immigration, the Bomb and, above all, Brexit.
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