What will be an appropriate epitaph to inscribe on the tombstone of this Conservative government? Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, came up with a compelling contender when he wrote: “I’ve never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country.” His verdict, which would have stayed undisclosed had it not been revealed by the Covid inquiry, related to the atrociously bungled handling of the pandemic, but it could serve as an overarching judgment on these 13 years and counting of Conservative rule.
Four successive Tory prime ministers have been and gone, each arriving at Number 10 brandishing promises to deliver a better Britain, each departing a humiliated failure and leaving Britain in a worse place than they found it. Now, in another zoom around the Tory doom loop, a fifth prime minister is struggling to keep his head above water in a raging tempest of division and chaos self-generated by the Conservatives. As Rishi Sunak foolishly makes his Rwanda plan a defining test of his premiership, there is feverish chatter among Tory MPs about triggering a ballot to try to eject yet another leader. The party chairman warns his colleagues that it would be “insanity” to oust Mr Sunak. That’s risky talk. Insanity is one thing that the Conservatives have consistently excelled at.
