After 13 years of power and five prime ministers, the Conservatives increasingly appear to be held together by string. The consensus is that the party faces either significant decline or catastrophe at the next general election. Amid the talk of sleaze, incompetence and chaos, what is often missed about post-Covid politics is the role of morality. For the first time in generations, the admittedly pliable concept of right and wrong is on the agenda. If the personal is political, then Britain is taking politics very personally indeed.
Enemies of the Tories have always believed they are immoral — the Aneurin Bevan “lower than vermin” position — but a particular challenge the Government faces now is that even natural allies perceive their decisions as morally wrong, as opposed to objectively wrong.
