Leo Tolstoy’s 1878 novel Anna Karenina begins with one of the most famous sentences in literature: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I don’t know how true this statement really is, but it does seem to describe recent Conservative administrations rather well.
There is a certain universality to the characteristics of successful governments. A growing economy with rising real wages, clarity of message and of purpose, a base level of unity. Conversely, unsuccessful governments can manifest in a variety of ways, each beset by their own unique set of problems.
