Down the years the Conservative party has taken some heavy election beatings but the one in prospect this week could be of a different order of magnitude.
Assuming the polls are right – and they have been consistent since the start of the campaign – the Tories will do worse even than in 1906, their previous nadir. Back then, the Conservatives and their Liberal Unionist allies won just 156 seats, a repeat of which on Thursday would now be considered a good result.
