The Tories’ Greek tragedy has reached its catharsis

I write this as I leave the Tory conference in Birmingham. I have covered most of these events (and many Labour ones too) since the beginning of the 1980s. They do not lift the heart, but it is always interesting to watch the activity of the tribe. I attended the 1997 conference at Blackpool after the Tories had been broken by Tony Blair. William Hague had just become leader. The tribe was in a state of tongue-tied mourning. The party faithful were perplexed that the Conservatives had bequeathed extremely favourable economic conditions and public finances and yet had been utterly rejected. The trappings of power still hung about the agenda and the rituals, but Blair had ‘stolen hence the life of the building’.

This time, though the defeat is even worse, the mood is far better. I think the Tories do want to recognise their failures. I even think a lot of them are pleased to have been beaten. The years from March 2020 (Covid begins…) have been agony. The cathartic stage of Greek tragedy has now been reached. It is a positive advantage that this year there is no leader’s speech to end the show. There is a choice of leader, and so the party members feel empowered. They (including far more young people than I had expected) crowd into the debates and listen responsively to what is said. They like ‘Why did it all go wrong?’ discussions. It should help unity in the coming years that so many activists were in at the beginning.

It is also marked how hard many of them are finding it to make up their minds about the candidates. They see the virtues and the faults of all four. Here is a summary of what they say: Kemi Badenoch is simultaneously the most striking and the riskiest.