The EconomistSeptember 7th 2019 251I
magine a conservative mpand your
mind’s eye might conjure up Philip Ham-
mond. The former chancellor is tall, grey
and with a sense of humour that matches
his fiscal policy: extra-dry. If not Mr Ham-
mond, then perhaps a figure in the mould
of Kenneth Clarke. The rotund, cigar-
chomping jazz enthusiast has served in
practically every senior government job
bar prime minister in a 49-year stint as a
Tory mp. Failing that, consider Sir Nicholas
Soames, a former defence minister. He has
a Churchillian manner, largely because
Winston Churchill was his grandfather.
The three embody the parliamentary Con-
servative Party in different ways. Yet they
are no longer in it.
The trio were among 21 Conservative
mps to have the whip withdrawn and be
barred from standing for the party again
after they supported a plan to make Boris
Johnson, the prime minister, seek a delay
to Britain’s scheduled departure from the
European Union on October 31st (see next
story). The purge was only the most visible
part of a revolution that is transforming theworld’s oldest political party. Those who
advocate fiscal prudence, social liberalism
and an orderly departure from the euhave
been routed. Those who demand free-
spending authoritarianism and a “do-or-
die” escape from the yoke of Brussels are
ascendant. ConservativeHome, a blog for
party activists, described this week as “the
end of the Conservative Party as we have
known it”. It proved too much for even the
prime minister’s brother, Jo, who resigned
as an mpon September 5th, “torn between
family loyalty and the national interest”.
The revolution has required ideologicalflexibility from those who wish to survive
it. The cabinet is full of mps who are his-
torically small-state Conservatives. Four of
the five authors of “Britannia Unchained”,
a paean to small government published by
ambitious young Tory mps in 2012, when
fiscal austerity was in fashion, now sit in a
cabinet intent on opening the public-
spending taps. A spending round on Sep-
tember 4th included measures that will in-
crease the size of the state as a percentage
of gdpfor the first time since 2010. Sajid Ja-
vid, the chancellor, is a fan of Ayn Rand and
hangs pictures of Margaret Thatcher in his
office. Yet on Mr Johnson’s instructions he
announced an extra £13.8bn ($16.9bn) in
election-friendly giveaways, paid for with
extra borrowing.
There is also new thinking on law and
order. Another 20,000 police officers are to
be hired, and a review of whether prison
sentences are too soft is expected. Priti Pa-
tel, who has called for a clampdown on im-
migration and once supported the return
of capital punishment, is home secretary. It
is a far cry from what some in the party
thought Mr Johnson had in store. “Expect a
liberal centrist,” advised one mp, who now
sits in the cabinet, before Mr Johnson be-
came prime minister. Wags have dubbed
the new Tory domestic agenda: “Fund the
nhs,hang the paedos.”
The hardest line is on Brexit. Conserva-
tive mps appreciate that they must get Brit-
ain out of the euif they are to keep their
seats. Yet Mr Johnson’s approach, whichThe future of the rightThe People’s Revolutionary
Conservative Front
A transformation of the Tory party leaves surviving mps feeling uneasyBritain
26 Parliament’s dramatic week
27 Scottish Tories in peril
27 Brexit stockpiling
28 Left-behind places
29 A baby boom grows up
30 Bagehot: Into the upside downAlso in this section