By riding the tiger of populism, Tories may have destroyed the UK

[LuckyTheDog]

By Charles Lees

It’s a familiar cliché that the Conservative Party is the most successful political party in the democratic world. Once called the natural party of government, it has been in power for most of the last 150 years and, for good or ill, has shaped modern Britain. The UK is a conservative country in all senses of the word.

But the past four decades have demonstrated that the modern Conservative Party can no longer be trusted in its role as the guardian of British institutions.

The revolutionary free-market zealotry of the Thatcherites and their successors not only put the social fabric of Britain under severe strain, but also undermined the credibility of the UK’s constitutional arrangements. Of the three pillars of High Toryism; church, state and monarchy, Britons only seem to still like the latter.

The decline in Tory respect for British institutions has also been on full display, not least in David Cameron’s willingness to risk the union’s survival twice – first in the Scottish Independence referendum, and then, probably fatally, in the EU membership referendum.

MORE HERE: http://yonside.com/riding-tiger-populism-tories-may-destroyed-uk/

[arendt]

1. It contains a nice one paragraph summary of why Brexit was, at root, about neoliberalism.

The grievances that fuel provincial populism – economic decline, globalization, demographic change, pressure on services, disappointment with their own lives, fears for their children’s futures – can never be addressed by the narrow market solutions favored by Boris Johnson and his acolytes. Making a real difference to these people’s lives would require a degree of state activism and redistributive economic policy that most of today’s Tories cannot conceive of, let alone countenance.

Yes. The Leave votes were angry losers. But it was Tory and Labor policies that made them angry losers.

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Je deteste irrational anger that

is fueled by recht wing losers and haters. Thank you arendt