Philip Hensher

What’s really behind the Tories’ present woes?

Geoffrey Wheatcroft identifies two root causes: the disastrous revision of the leadership election procedure, and David Cameron’s turn to the referendum as a device to govern

David Cameron in Blackpool, 2007. His fondness for referendums is seen as a root cause of the Conservatives’ present problems. [Getty Images] 
issue 25 May 2024
  • Comments

  • Bloody Panico!: or, Whatever Happened to the Tory Party?

    Geoffrey Wheatcroft

    Verso, pp. 176, £14

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

Damian Thompson

The extraordinary scale of the crisis facing the next pope

From the magazine
At 9.47 a.m. on Easter Monday we heard the words ‘con profondo dolore’ from a cardinal standing in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. Two hours earlier, Pope Francis ‘è tornato alla casa del Padre’ – ‘had returned to the house of the Father’. Most people won’t have noticed a curious detail: the cardinal

More on boris johnson

Also by Philip Hensher

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in