The Great British Conservative Party: Where Do We Stand? How Many British Conservatives Do We Live? When Did Britain Choose a Conservative Party?
LONDON — Until very recently the British Conservative Party was able to claim, with a great deal of credibility, that it was the most successful political party in the Western world.
Britain is now seen as a global laughingstock because of the severe problem of governance that is the symptom, rather than the cause. The Conservative Party chose her, remember, even though she was obviously not up to the job. You did not need Nostradamus to know that she was going to fail. The Conservative Party should take the blame for the disastrous state of the country.
Dan Kitwood, Yui Mok, Henry Nicholls, and Leon Neal are all related to the WPA Pool.
There was only one constant during this tumultuous year in the United Kingdom. In one four-month stretch, the U.K. had four chancellors of the exchequer (essentially Britain’s treasury secretary), three prime ministers and two monarchs.
The year concluded with near-11% inflation and a series of walkouts by nurses, immigration officers, driving test examiners, postal staff and railway workers in the worst strikes the country has seen in more than a decade.
Matthew Lee, a train conductor, picketed outside of King’s Cross station in London because he and many of his colleagues were struggling financially. “I want to get back to work, but there comes a point where you have to make a stand and just say: ‘That’s it.’”
Royal family conservative party strikes: Brexit, Brexit, and the political situation in the U.K. After Brexit, Britain is still far from ungovernable
More than three-quarters of British firms said the U.K.’s post-Brexit trade deal with Europe is not helping them increase sales, according to a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce.
The 2016 referendum was supposed to resolve Britain’s long, tortured relationship with the European Union, but the question now seems far from settled.
Matthew Goodwin, a political science professor at the University of Kent, says that the sense of regret has become a more prominent feature of British political life. The political pressure will be on to turn this public opinion reality into something at the ballot box.
Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian and the death of the queen are two of the factors that drove this year’s tumult. But many analysts said long-term problems contributed. The lack of a written constitution and the Conservatives selection of leaders, such as Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who promised voters solutions they couldn’t deliver are included.
Tim Bale says that each of them is basically telling their party and the country that they can have its cake and eat it too, but they can’t. I don’t think so. the U.K. is inherently ungovernable, but I think if you try to govern it on the basis of fantasy, then you’re going to eventually get caught.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/1145811967/britain-2022-royal-family-conservative-party-strikes
The Royal Family: A Critical Look at a Conservative Party Strikes in December 1918, During the Second Set of Osmosis
The dramatic change of this year came from the Conservative Party and the royal family. The country mourned for 10 days after Queen Elizabeth II died, the only monarch most Britons had ever known. People lined up for hours along the river to view the queen’s casket, which had been in the Houses of Parliament.
King Charles III, 74, did not generate much enthusiasm before his mother’s passing. But in polls soon afterward, the percentage of those who thought he would make a good king nearly doubled, from 32% to 63%.
The royals had a difficult month in December. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, dropped a six-part Netflix series in which they criticized members of the royal family, including King Charles, Prince William and even the queen.
The family declined to comment and went on with their usual schedule of public events, following something of a royal motto, “Never complain, never explain.” The day after the second set ofOsmosis shows aired, King Charles attended a Hanukkah reception at a Jewish community center in london where he met people making food packages for the needy.
King Charles faces some long-term challenges. As a privileged white man, there are limits to how much he can represent an increasingly diverse Britain. Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, a think tank that researches issues around race and identity, says the king is wise to reach out to people from different faiths and ethnic backgrounds and show support for a multicultural Britain.
The queen gave stability to all of us by being there for us all the time. “For the king to be a source of bridging or unity, he’s actually got to be more proactive, getting out and showing that the Crown wants to be a source of cohesion in British society.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/1145811967/britain-2022-royal-family-conservative-party-strikes
What does the UK government really do to make political change in the 21st century? An economics professor at London School of Economics and Brexit strategist Patrick Dunleavy
Britain’s Conservative Party was anything but cohesive this year, as No. 10 Downing St. became a revolving door. Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister last summer after he was caught lying about government staff holding parties when they were banned.
One party, which Johnson did not attend, involved a suitcase full of wine and took place the night before the funeral of Prince Philip, the queen’s husband, who died in April 2021. The following day, the queen wore a mask and sat alone in a pew. The juxtaposition with drunken government parties was politically devastating for Johnson.
Liz Truss was chosen by members of the Conservative Party to succeed Johnson. One of the first acts was to try to close a massive budget gap with unfunded tax cuts.
Conservative lawmakers then rallied around Rishi Sunak, a former chancellor of the exchequer, who became prime minister in October. He has calmed the markets and called for tax increases and spending cuts.
Political analysts say part of the extraordinary political instability this year is due to the way the major political parties here choose their leaders.
Patrick Dunleavy, an economics professor at the London School of Economics, said rank-and-file party members are not representative of the rest of the country. He says they are older, whiter, much more conservative and not good judges of politics or economics.
“That is an example of what can happen when you don’t have checks and balances in the system,” says Dunleavy. “Until that’s fixed, I don’t really think anything much is going to improve in British politics.”
The conflict between more conservative and more pragmatic parliamentarians is a problem for the party. This goes back to the vote on the exit from the EU and continues to haunt the country.
A surprise result was provided by a referendum in April of 2016 nobody in parliament expected [and] nobody in parliament wanted,” says McTague, who is writing a book about the road to Brexit called The Conquest. “This [was] the most enormous constitutional and economic revolution in British politics and there were no instructions on how to do it.”
There was at least one bright spot for the British government this year, as it tried to find a new role on the international stage outside the European Union. The U.K. went on to train and arm the Ukrainians after saying that they were against Russia. As prime minister, Boris Johnson was wildly popular in Ukraine.
Back home, the situation looks considerably tougher for the Conservatives. They’re behind the Labour Party in popularity. The next election is expected to be won by the Democrats, giving the Conservatives their 12th year in power.