Until this summer, even the worst general election performances of the Conservative party still achieved vote shares of over 30%. This time, it could only scrape 23.7% of the vote. No generation of Tory leaders has lost as badly.
Yet the impression given to voters is of a party in denial. Conservative leadership candidates have so far attempted to “style it out”, behaving as if the party just lost by a few seats, rather than the near two-thirds cull of MPs that took place. There has been no real contrition, no self-reflection. Activists are told that the election result was down to “poor delivery” – a woefully inadequate excuse.
