Assuming this is the Conservative party’s last conference in power, I decided to investigate what kind of country they leave behind. Thirteen years on, are we richer, poor, happier or sadder?
I started by asking MPs to name their biggest achievement. No one said ‘the economy’; Ukraine and Brexit were popular. Two replied: ‘Kept Labour out’, which, considering Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn ran the opposition, is low hanging bananas. Nevertheless, ‘winning’ is what the Tories have done best. They slipped into office via a coalition, won a majority, then a minority, and finally a historic victory built on Red Wall seats that had backed Labour since the Norman Conquest.
Despite this, it’s tricky to say what they stood for. There have been five prime ministers, three within two months, each elected to repudiate the last – and chunks of their original plan for Britain never happened. Consider these unfulfilled pledges from the 2010 manifesto: complete HS2 to Manchester, cut the Commons by a tenth, spend 0.7
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