The Tories should be planting some bombs for Labour

The recent self-defenestration of Nicola Sturgeon led to a rash of columns listing her dazzling lack of actual achievements, many of which added the caveat that she was the consummate, in fact the most successful, politician of her generation. These statements seemed somewhat contradictory at first glance. But then the reader remembered – oh, yeah, right – the other politicians of her generation. 

Looking back over the last 13 years of Tory governance, it’s hard to find anything to stick laurels on. Brexit was an achievement, yes, but that was foisted on the Tories by an uncooperative public, and the Tories tried their damndest to wriggle out of it even then (and they still might). It’s true that the Tories have been hobbled by three successive crises in 13 years – in reverse order: Covid, Theresa May, and the Lib Dems – but their squandering of the 2019 landslide, sunk in a mire of schoolboy errors, money grubbing and internecine squabbling, is very hard to forgive.

When they are booted out there are going to be thousands of words written about where they went wrong, so I thought I’d get in early.