James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Conservative crack-up

Months after a historic election victory, party unity is in pieces. What can David Cameron do about it?

issue 26 March 2016

No one does political violence quite like the Tories. The fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990 unleashed a cycle of reprisals that lasted until David Cameron became leader in 2005. During that time, Tories specialised in factionalism: wets vs dries, Europhiles vs Eurosceptics, modernisers vs traditionalists. Cameron’s great achievement was to unite the party in pursuit of power.

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