Exaggeration is the political pundits’ stock in trade: nobody built a loyal readership on equivocation. But Matthew Parris’ recent commentary about the Conservative Party’s direction under Theresa May borders on the hysterical.
A few weeks ago he used his Times column to hyperventilate about a Conservative Party ‘paralysed in the headlights of a dangerous surge of reckless populism and in thrall to its own right wing’. Last Saturday, he returned to the theme and wrote of a ‘deep, deep shift under way in our party…leaving anyone once attracted to the strong strand of tolerance and moderation we found powerful in the Conservative tradition feeling cowed, discouraged’.
You would have thought Matthew might have justified his claims with examples of liberal or progressive policies being junked in favour of new right wing ideas. But no. He didn’t because he couldn’t.
The reality is that Theresa May is extending the fight for women’s rights with her plans for a new Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill.
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