Tory confusion begs the question: what is a Conservative? - Bernard Ingham

It is a particularly fraught mid-term and I know there is not much gratitude in politics.

But, frankly, I’m confused. A recent opinion poll gives Labour a six-point lead over the governing Tories which stretches to 10 points if you add in the Liberal Democrats and Greens.

And let’s face it, Labour in its present condition would jump at the chance of a coalition with the Lib Dems and Greens.

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Even Sir Keir Starmer, cuddling up to the Lib Dems, seems to think it is currently their only route back to power.

Boris Johnson. Pic: Getty.Boris Johnson. Pic: Getty.
Boris Johnson. Pic: Getty.

It may be argued that Labour’s lead is not bad for a mid-term Government and should be taken as no more than a whip to the Tory nag’s backside to do something about the cost of living – or else.

I might buy that were it not for the apparent confusion in the Tory ranks. This raises a serious question: what is a Conservative?

I had assumed from my experience that he or she is above all concerned with sound economics, strong defences and personal responsibility.

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You would not think so from the constant witterings of Tory MPs, both ancient and modern. Fighting the Covid pandemic cost a cool £400bn which does not grow on trees and a consequent budget deficit of £300bn.

We are also effectively leading the West’s defence of freedom imperilled by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. That does not come cheap.

We are pouring treasure, if not blood, into the beleaguered nation in the form of arms or know-how.

In these circumstances, you might reasonably have thought the Government’s No 1 priority would be to get the economy back on an even keel as quickly as possible, consistent with protecting our blessed freedom and the weak.

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Instead, we hear incessant Tory calls for more spending and cuts in admittedly very high taxes.

Without them, they say they will certainly lose the next election.

But you can’t get the economy on an even keel by more spending and lower taxes.

And if you do not re-balance the economy, you will further weaken it and our ability to weather future storms.

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The un-Tory pressure for spending money we do not have may be because we have a Prime Minister whose approach to it is as lackadaisical as was his hero, Winton Churchill’s, to the cost of his lifestyle.

Churchill seemed to assume it would always be paid for even if he did not know where the money was coming from.

Boris Johnson’s approach is reflected in his regular attempts to cheer us up with bold promises about, for example, “levelling up” the nation, curbing costly immigration and realising the benefits of Brexit.

We badly need a dose of cold reality. If you cannot conjure economic miracles out of thin air then you would better face the public with reality as Churchill did with his prospect of “blood, tears, toil and sweat”.

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The nation is up against it in too many ways to make light of its plight.

It is not as if the Government were responsible for the pandemic or Putin’s brutal exhibition of his warped ambitions.

It may so far have handled Ukraine better than its control of pandemic supplies and testing but it did triumph in the end with its world-leading vaccination programme.

It is by no means a record of incompetence and I suspect that Labour’s relatively narrow lead reflects this recognition along the old “Red Wall”, if not in the so superior South and especially London.

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But Brexiteer Tories refusing to face up to economic reality also seem to be forgetting one rather important thing: a Labour Government or a coalition with the Lib Dems would never take harsh economic decisions, however necessary, but could be guaranteed to lead us back into the manifestly failing EU. Is that what they want?

The Government badly needs to confront the nation with reality, not day-dreams, and to argue its case for concentrating on the economy and defence while doing what it can to protect the weak.

People – at least in the North – are not daft. They know what makes sense.

What would make sense soon is a coldly realistic blockbuster speech by Boris that argues the Tory case for a combination of prudence in all things, leavened by compassion for those least able bear the costs that the pandemic and Ukraine have imposed on all of us.

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It might sound like Saul on the road to Damascus but it would brave and realistic.

The route to victory at the next election is not waffle but rigorous and vigorous intent to get on top of our problems.

The public will then know which side their bread is buttered.