The annual Conservative party conference in the United Kingdom wrapped up last Wednesday, and instead of being an occasion where the Tories could come together and reflect that even after a bruising general election campaign, their party still won more popular votes under the leadership of leader Theresa May than it did when former prime minister David Cameron went to the polls in May 2015.
But May, who gambled with pre-election opinion polls showing her party at more than 40 per cent support, and with the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn in apparent disarray, performed dismally and without passion, failing to engage with young voters who were disillusioned with the Conservative’s support of austerity and the free market.
Brexit too remains a millstone for this Conservative party, and its senior members are still engaged in the ideological catfight that has consumed its ranks since entering Europe formally more than four decades ago. Those divisions spelled the end of former leaders Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard. Given that the result of the Brexit referendum came as a shock to Cameron and resulted in his resignation, the Conservatives have failed to communicate clearly, either within the party, to the British people as a whole, and to the European Union, exactly what Brexit means and how it should be attained.
May’s leadership too has been weakened by her failure to silence bickering within the ranks of her Cabinet. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has been advocating a so-called “hard Brexit”, willing to let the UK leave the EU without any formal agreement. Her Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, is advocating a “soft Brexit”, one that includes a period of transition with the EU after the March 29, 2019 divorce date.
Within her backbenches, there have been voices of dissent, ranging from disgruntled former Cameron ministers who were demoted when she formed her new Cabinet, by hardline anti-Brussels Members of Parliament who seek a return to Thatcherite social and economic reforms, and by younger, socially progressive MPs who seek a renewal of the party and a reconnection with those younger voters who cast ballots for Corbyn and Labour in June.
An untimely cough, a comic protester handing her a termination notice, and a faulty stage all combined to compound the image that May is a weak and weakened party leader. Now, more than ever, Britain needs a united government to negotiate with Brussels. For that to happen, May must first unite her party.
