“Somebody had to do the night shift” William Hague once said of his time as leader of the Conservative Party in opposition. Increasingly, Tory MPs are beginning to wonder whether that person might now be Liz Truss. With a well-rehearsed litany of woes facing the country, and the economy set to enter a long recession, some MPs are predicting electoral doom in 2024. What is more surprising is that some seem to welcome this.
There is an idea taking hold in Conservative circles, which runs along these lines: after 12 years in government, the party has lost sight of its purpose. Ideologically incoherent, it exists now only to hold power, and has no idea what to do with that power. What it needs is a period in opposition to reset and work out what it believes.
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