The Conservative party is far from the margin of British politics, but it has yet to recover the relevance to which it feels historically entitled. The Tories are flattered by their status as the official opposition in parliament. In the wider country, Reform UK has set the agenda on the right, overtaking Kemi Badenoch’s party in opinion polls and poaching MPs from her benches.
But Nigel Farage’s progress has stalled. Scrutiny of Reform’s finances has made its leader look shifty. Competition from Restore Britain, an extreme nationalist party, has denied Mr Farage the luxury of taking far-right votes for granted. Pandering to a hardcore audience makes it difficult for Reform to affect the moderation required to capture more Tory and Labour votes.
