The Conservative party political conference.

 The Conservative party political conference.

They're winding everything up at the Conservative party political conference and it's been nothing if not eventful. There's still a good deal of internal squabbling, quiet bickering, grudges expressed quite openly but then you'd hardly expect anything else at any party political conference. Last week in Bournemouth it was all happy ever after, wine and roses, cheery optimism, all confident grandstanding but perhaps unrealistic visions because the chances of the Liberal Democrats forming the next government are about as remote as a non League football club winning the FA Cup Final against Manchester City.

But this week the Tories have been exchanging lively views about everything from net zero, climate change for the umpteenth time, myriad tales of Churchillian heroism and defiance, Margaret Thatcher at her most inspirational and getting things done immediately. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made the ultimate statement yesterday and the foundations are shaking, alarm bells ringing and intensive questions asked at every level. 

In ordinary circumstances we might have disregarded the momentous events of yesterday as nothing more then a general shifting of political furniture and dramatic changes of heart. But in an astonished hall in Manchester, the Tories dropped the bombshell that none of us could have expected. For the last three years the governments of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were riddled with problems and complications followed by yet more disasters and then fell into a complete state of humiliation. Then poor old Boris Johnson was given the definitive hand grenade. In March 2020, Covid 19, a little known virus spread across the globe and Johnson was caught up in a dilemma that would degenerate into the most horrendous nightmare.

For the next two and half years millions of lives were lost to the pandemic and the Tories were quite literally torn asunder, broken in half, divided and polarised as never before, helpless and then desperate, flummoxed before confusion and panic set in with a vengeance. This was the harrowing tale of a political party that had no idea what to do with a medical killer virus that, essentially, had nothing to do with them. So they floundered and stumbled around in the dark with no clear diagnosis of the condition and two eminent scientists who presented us with graphs and statistics showing the latest fatalities.

Three years later of course and with the pandemic now in control and more or less off the radar, the Tories are still blood letting, still arguing and still looking for a unanimous voice, joint party consensus, singing from the same proverbial hymn sheet and trying to appear united. Now some of us would prefer to be a political atheist with no loyalties or allegiances shown towards any of the mainstream parties so what happened in Bournemouth and now Manchester will be privately dismissed as hot air.

This week in Manchester, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has looked respectable, well intentioned and immaculately briefed by those who still believe in him. Sunak always sounds like a sixth form chemistry student who just wants to become a City economist as soon as possible. The fact that he once worked for Goldman Sachs and dabbled in the world of high finance and banking is neither here nor there. Of course he's a millionaire and wealthy beyond his wildest dreams but the fact remains that he could be in hot water, trouble of the worst kind. 

Yesterday Sunak looked like the calmest politician you could possibly imagine. But then we discovered that the man had made what most of us believe to be the most embarrassing mistake of them all. Even Sunak's most devoted henchmen and women might have been privately cursing and muttering under their collective breaths. The Tory loyalists are now restless. It may have been seen as a gross lapse of judgment or just a case of rotten and pathetic decision making. In fact this one sounds almost catastrophic to those on the outside.

The new rail network Hs2, designed to speed up the service of trains running from London to Birmingham and Manchester, always an overly ambitious plan at the best of times, has now been reduced to eggs on face and totally scrapped. Now there are times when politicians have to be accountable for their cock ups and gaffes, for rash thinking and dithering. But this was a revolutionary idea, a golden vision for the future and the most welcome news for a heavily criticised service. 

Besides, most of us will admit that the decrepit state of our railway network has always been in dire need of a radical overhaul, drastic modernisation and not stuck at Euston during the height of the rush hour. The tracks and signalling systems have been notoriously bad for decades now but Hs2 felt like a breath of fresh air, a rejuvenation of an ailing organisation. The fact is that Sunak must have thought he'd made the most regrettable announcement ever made by any party. But he was convinced that the billions reserved for Hs2 are now being swiftly re-directed to the whole infrastructure of the long distance train journey.

At first Sunak looked as pleased as Punch and almost smug and then felt vindicated because he couldn't understand the much wider ramifications of this wild and woolly project. But while the rest of the Tory party were perhaps getting their knickers in a twist so to speak the public they serve may well have reached a definitive conclusion. Next year is the General Election and those Tories are going to get a terrible pasting in the polls. In fact the Labour party are currently rubbing their hands with glee. The Conservatives are bound to receive a hammering in the polls, a complete wipe out. Just watch this space.

And yet you suspect the Tories have been along this well trodden path too frequently. There was a period during Mrs Thatcher's 11 year tenure as Prime Minister when she must have thought she was invincible. But for all the savage attacks on her integrity as leader, Thatcher kept bouncing back again and again. She survived over a decade of Labour grumbling and resentment and always emerged with her blue power suit clean and intact.

Shortly into her term of office Margaret Thatcher stood up at the party political conference and confidently predicted that the future for Britain was stunningly bright. She delivered her familiar oratory and maintained with some vigour and conviction that her audience may have been unsure but she was simply not for turning. Follow Thatcher and the economic health of the nation would be in good and capable hands. Then the country reached what seemed to be rock bottom, the nadir, almost beyond salvation. Unemployment reached three million but the Tories marched on relentlessly proud of their destruction of the coal mining industry and looking forward to a high tech age of full employment.

Wind forward to the recent and present day of Tory rule and it all looks very disorganised, fractured, fractious and potentially explosive if left in the wrong place and time. Rishi Sunak does look a fairly nice bloke and nobody would willingly wish upon him a lengthy spell on the Shadow backbenches if the Tories do lose the General Election. But the task ahead is daunting and not for those of us of a squeamish disposition. He may be fiercely opposed to the boatloads of migrants fleeing persecution of war ravaged countries and the whole complex issue of climate change across the globe isn't pleasant.

Since the end of  Mrs Thatcher's leadership of the country we've known one John Major, at the time one of the dullest and most tedious Prime Minister or so it was thought at the time. Major always looked in dire need of an image consultant since at no time did any hint of charisma or personality shine through the general greyness of it all. But Major seemed to outstay his welcome and never really bothered the political historians.

Then in 1997 Labour hit back with a vengeance. A man named Tony Blair, cynically referred to as a Tory in red clothing, emerged from 10 Downing Street with his two point four family, Cheri and the young children, smiling widely, waving his hands delightedly and then as Prime Minister for just over a decade or so. The sloganeering was hugely impressive. Blair promised complete reforms to the education system in Britain three times over. Then he got dragged into a war that clearly was not of his making but generally behaved with a dignity and decorum that surprised most of us. Some of us thought he hadn't done a great deal wrong at times, performing almost flawlessly and skilfully.

But in 2023 the nation finds the Tories in charge again which of course means complete prosperity, stability, jobs galore, opportunities in both blue and white collar industries and more of the feelgood factor. Dear Boris Johnson, bless his cotton socks at times, didn't know whether he was coming or going at times and Covid 19 both defined and condemned his career to the far distant realms of obscurity. To all outward appearances he was the most incompetent buffoon that had ever walked the corridors of Westminster and even now he still makes his presence felt as a forthright newspaper columnist.

When all is said and done though it's a hard life in the world of big time politics. Nobody in the right minds would even consider life as a political figurehead since masochism may not to be to our taste. We all cherish our sanity and mental health so politics would never have been  our preferred choice of career. Sadly it did look as though Rishi Sunak may have consigned the Conservatives to a life in the lonely hinterland of opposition to the Government of the day. We may wish the Tories well next year and retain our impartiality since even Labour can never be seen as the classic and plausible alternative to the Tory election bandwagon.