"My message is simple and stark – unite or die." It would be something of an overstatement to suggest that, following these words from Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservatives chose death. But the then-Tory leader was gone within 12 months and the party remained locked out of office for another eight years.
Political parties, particularly in first-past-the-post electoral systems, are necessarily coalitions. Unity is the price of power. But when that power slips away, participants often conclude that unity is no longer worth the hassle.
