Two Words That Sum Up the Absolute State of the Tories and Labour
The UK electorate has a choice between 2 dishonest, unelectable car crashes
Oh dear. 1 week into the election campaign and we’re already seeing what an abysmal choice the electorate has on 4th July. Independence Day, it won’t be. Whilst no manifestos have landed at the time of writing, here’s a breakdown of why the Tories and Labour are both fundamentally unelectable in 2 words, whilst not addressing the major existential issues we face.
The absolute state of the Conservative Party
I’ll leave the low-res criticism of the Conservatives being ‘far-right’ to the ridiculous howling banshees at The Guardian. This is obviously nonsense as by most metrics - tax, immigration, public sector size, wokism and MPs defecting directly from Tories to Labour (which show the consensus) - this is a party left of Blair. Instead, this critique is from both (genuinely) liberal and conservative perspectives.
The 2 words that sum up the tories are incompetent appeasers. First appeasement. Bearing in mind the resounding win in 2019’s election, it would be easy to point the finger of conservative destruction at the current government, but its worth going back to 2010. Fundamentally, the Tories since Cameron, have been trying to appease the left and drifting that way; this has been a slow puncture. Trying to be liked by the Left rather than appealing to the tory base and genuine liberals was always doomed to fail. Cameron started the rot by NOT ripping up Blair government’s decentralisation, devolution and legal reforms (including the Equality Act, The Sentencing Council, and the Supreme Court). If you accept the framework of your opponent, you’re going to lose.
Cameron’s resignation post the Brexit referendum was also the start of the anti-democratic illiberal Veruca Salts coalition of both the left and the right. The shameful lack of ‘losers consent’ has continued to scar our politics since. The tory schism on economic neo-liberalism and localised conservatism has never been fully addressed which is at the heart of the Tories own schizophrenia.
Then, we had Teresa May’s ‘burning injustices’, which both legitimised the promotion of left-wing populism whilst brushing right-wing populism under the carpet. Boris on paper looked like someone who could restore the decay and made some right noises, but the lack of due diligence on covid restrictions and the eyewatering funding of support took him off track and were again the result of megaphone leftists, not sound judgement (see Sweden for details, ironically a country most leftists want us to follow most of the time!) The massive public debt and inflation resulting from Covid policies was always going to be weaponised by Labour, even though they cheered on harder, faster, deeper lockdowns. Partygate was rightly Boris’s undoing; cross-party rage at a governing class partying like it was 1999 whilst the rest of us were locked down was entirely justified. Under his watch rampant wokism and the DEI protection racket flourished, as did the kind of immigration Brexit was design to halt.
Finally, we have the installation of Hunt and Sunak after the Truss debacle and the sackings of Suella Braverman (Sunak breaking the Social contract Sunak & Biden Have Broken the Social Contract (substack.com)) and Lee Anderson rather than sticking by them in the face of shrill leftist criticism.
None of this is surprising; you only need to look at the comments on X by ‘conservatives’ like Caroline Noakes and Gavin Barwell to realise these are people who seem embarrassed by what they represent. They want to be accepted by Guardianistas, rather than destroying the arguments of these over-grown sixth-formers. To point out the obvious, anyone embarrassed of their own views is in the wrong party…
In terms of taking on ideologies, it’s rare to hear conservatives engage with the core principles of what the left has pivoted towards (intersectionality or critical theory); these ideas are built on sand and easy to knock over, yet, but with the exception of Kemi Badenoch, are never challenged. Is because the Gavins and Carolines of the party agree with these ideas? Tories continually fall for these logical fallacies the left create as detailed here Dogmas, Disparities & Dialectics - Falsifying Intersectionality (substack.com)and here 1 Year on X - 30 Tricks Bullshitters Use (substack.com)
This is where the liberal critique of the modern Tories kicks in; the Conservative Party has departed from classical liberal values and seems more interesting in pandering to excesses of the ‘progressive’ left. A pivot that seems incredulous, even to liberals. A tory party that can’t restore the framework of liberalism, let alone conserve conservatism has no right to exist.
Liberals recognise the Equality Act with ‘positive action’ and all female short lists overreached into outcome not opportunity. The enshrining of two-tier lawfare under the Tory watch is the final straw as detailed here Anarchy in the UK - Asymmetric Lawfare is Here (substack.com) is also illiberalism writ large. The lack of consent for our national borders being open is too – all of this is an attack on liberal concepts, let alone conservatism.
From a right-wing position, the Tories should’ve been concerned with conserving traditional family life, the monarchy, individual responsibility, stability, national identity, limited government (thus low tax and sound money), and Christian beliefs. After 14 years in control its clear that none of these principles has been upheld or restored. When you consider the 2019 election result, and where we are now on tax, immigration and woke nonsense, there’s only one word true blue Tories must think of their party… betrayal.
The appeasement to the Left is part of the second word that sums up the terrible tory reign – incompetence. Apart from the lack of intellectual rigour required to take on idiotic leftist ideas, the inability of the conservative leadership to come up with a positive vision of conservatism - the great things that need preserving in our country - is central to tory demise. The Tories have been unable to identify their mission should’ve been one of restoration, as well as conservativism.
This brings us to the final problem of the people in the party. In interviews, Liz Truss(1) points to undemocratic Veruca Salts in the bureaucratic and legal machinery of government blocking policies, essentially calling into question our democracy. Whilst it’s possible to empathise that the rot of national / international activists and legalistic skulduggery is deep, this is no excuse. She was PM! It was her job to outsmart, remove, avoid, or persuade human blockers to accepted policies. It’s a significant part of leadership to bring people along, to win the argument; the interview with Truss showed a lack of resilience at the heart of government. Can you imagine Churchill, Thatcher or Blair being so easily turned over by the Sir Humphreys’ in the civil service?
Ultimately, a drifting party with no clear purpose, forever apologising for what it thinks, with weak leadership, and the inability to take on those suffering from newness fallacy, is always going to fail. Put all this together and this explains why the Tories are so poor and deserve to be destroyed. Sunak will go down in history as the man who destroyed the world’s oldest political party. After 14 years the ‘but we’re not as bad as Labour’ proposition will be all they have left on election day. Many Tories (and liberals) are livid at the Tory party squandering an opportunity to re-align towards the proposition of 2019; we didn’t take back control of our boarders. Or ‘level up’. Or take advantages of Brexit. Unfortunately for them, the public is ready for a change. Which brings us neatly to Labour…
The absolute state of the Labour Party
If the Tories are dumb, then Labour is dumber. As I’ve already written a few articles on the state of the Labour so instead I’ll boil it down to two words to describe Labour - unhinged schizophrenics. As I pointed out here last summer The Modern Left Has Created a Monster in Identity Politics. They Will Have to Kill it if They Want to Survive… (substack.com), by embracing the identity monster, the Left has become a comically ungovernable, intellectually incoherent, and sectarian minefield of a movement.
We’ve had years of people on the left at each other’s throats thanks to the intersectional framing of everything - which doesn’t matter when you’re on opposition but when you are in line to govern the spotlight is suddenly on you. Within the labour movement we have an endless oppression Olympics of trans activists vs feminists, gay vs straight, working class men v feminists, ethnic minorities vs the white working class and Muslims vs Jews all facing off. And this is before you get to the diametrically opposites of some ultra socially conservative Islamists vs the whole of progressive left and liberals – an antagonism many on the left just don’t seem to acknowledge. This is no broad church. This is a complete incomprehensible clusterfuck of people who hate each other; hatred of the tories and the desire for power is the only thing that unites this cohort.
Week 1 and we’ve already seen schism on racism due to Abbotgate with Angela Rayner undermining Keir Starmer and winning the argument to reinstate Diane(2). Labour could collapse into a civil war at any moment, especially as it seems Keir Starmer is trying to purge some of the insane elements of the Corbyn-era party but is too weak to do so; the fact so many require purging shows the state of Labour. Diane’s past comments speak for themselves including the amazing claim Chairman Mao did ‘more good than harm’(3) . This shows these cranks aren’t just a bit eccentric but are terrifyingly dangerous. 80 million dead Chinese people would agree with that opinion. The purge may be down to some pointed phone calls from the security services to one Keir Starmer...
This is before you get to the broader philosophical schism on the economic position of the Labour Party. This week the Labour leader announced he’s a socialist, only for the future chancellor Rachel Reeves(4) to quickly clarify she’s a social democrat. This was perhaps even more reason for the horses to get scared; the powers that be in the City will have priced in a 3rd way, mixed economy Labour party, not a return to clause 4 socialism. The difference between the two is something many champagne socialists on the Left never seem to fully understand; you either have the freedoms of property ownership and a private sector or a creep towards state ownership… if you’re going to start nationalising companies or whole sectors (or property?), you need to be ready to explain ‘how’ and the economic flight that will come with that. Keir Starmer either doesn’t understand this or is a genuine socialist. Both of which are bad. This unhinged schizophrenia is not just about identity politics but at Labour’s economic core. I’ve written here ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer is a Coward - by Post-woke Pete (substack.com) about Keir Starmer’s abysmal judgement and how he is unfit to be our leader. The fact he struggles with basic questions like ‘What is a woman?’ and ‘Are you a socialist/social democrat?’ never looks good.
Ultimately, Labour is philosophically two opposing parties with no real middle ground. There are only two solutions for this: one is to split into a social democratic party minus all the far-left, illiberal cranks. The second is to gingerly tiptoe through the sectarian minefield, trying to appease a big collective of factions. The purge may be Starmer trying to do the former - he may well have calculated such a poll lead gives him latitude to oust the far-left to appeal to the middle ground. This is the wiser choice, but flawed as he’s too weak and the supposed ‘sensible centrist’ Labour candidates are left-wing cranks as Wes Streeting showed when he called London Mayor candidate Susan Hall a ‘white supremacist’(5).
The problems will surface quickly once in power. As foreshadowed, the problem here is that the factions that make up Labour only have 2 things in common; the Tory hatred evaporates as soon as Labour wins the election. So, keeping a lid on factional power grabs will be the aim of the game. This will result in politics around those who shout loudest and congregate around targeting the intersectional ‘privileged’.
Put all this together and you have one of the most unelectable hot messes we’ve ever seen. This party is not that much different from the Corbyn party Keir Starmer almost helped elect. Their only saviour will be a highly creative, universalist manifesto that fixes the (genuine) problems we face, not a list of mad woke ideas dressed up in vague business-speak. Guess which one is coming…
Summary
To summarise, both parties are philosophically bereft, incompetent, fragmented, left-leaning, schizophrenics with outstandingly weak leadership. In this way, there is still a uniparty consensus. Also, their manifestos will show they are both creatively bankrupt and fundamentally dishonest with the electorate about dealing with the actual problems we face (catastrophically high debt, AI, the global rise in autocracies, a proxy war with Russia/China, rising internal illiberalism, out of control immigration and balancing economic globalisation with localism). There are no solutions for the Conservative Party - their brand is irredeemably tarnished; love is an emotion that turns to hate when betrayed so sub-100 seats are likely. They have failed in their most basic task of conservation and thrown away a commanding majority.
Whilst I’d still put my money on a big Labour win, with a sub-50 % turnout, they are at end-stage progressivism. It will be a short-term win for the Left as the electorate will soon catch on to Labour’s hopelessness. The Labour government will be riven by a People’s Front of Judea vs People’s Judean Front mentality. Not only will Britain be a laughingstock internationally, but the only laws that will get passed will be counterproductive, authoritarian overreach. Keir Starmer’s purge won’t last and nor will he (1 year at best for him before a left-wing figure takes over). Bearing in mind the twists and turns of this week, the next 5 weeks could see some Jenga Towers collapse as the scrutiny of what Labour would do in power ramps up, but Labour will win.
Solutions
The only thing I’d urge all readers to do is vote. A deeply unstable hung parliament is probably the best-case scenario to prevent dumber from messing things up too much. Whilst it might be tempting to sit this one out, a sub-50 % turnout will be a victory for illiberals who hate democracy. We must vote, even if it’s for a minor party or tactically. Whilst the First Past The Post system prevents a breakthrough of these smaller parties, a handful of seats may be the difference between a rubber stamp parliament of lunatics. Longer-term, hopefully, we’ll get a party more aligned to pragmatic liberal principles as explored here Pragmatic Liberalism - by Post-woke Pete (substack.com) that solves the issues of our day. That day is a long way off…
References:
1) My 49 Days as Prime Minister - Liz Truss (youtube.com)
2) Keir Starmer forced into U-turn on Diane Abbott by Angela Rayner (telegraph.co.uk)
3) Diane Abbott’s history of controversies as Labour MP suspended over racism letter | The Independent
4) Reeves says she is ‘social democrat’ after Starmer declares himself ‘socialist’ | The Independent
5) Wes Streeting should be ashamed of his white supremacist Tory jibe | The Spectator