Is the Conservatory Party now an irrelevance?

It maybe depend on how Reform performs at local council level. How they manage the finances, what services they choose to cut or retain. If they drive a council to bankruptcy, they won't look like a good bet to run the country. If they manage to improve services, people will vote for them again and push the Conservatives further to the margins.

Unless they sharpen up and start talking policies yes I think they are. Reform are not the answer either.

I first imagined tea and biscuits on a sunny afternoon when I saw your thread title Whitewavemark3, I think your autocorrect kicked in there!

I really hope the Tories aren’t doomed, but I think they have an uphill struggle to rebuild their credibility. I’ve always felt that they should have stuck with Sunak as their leader, for at least a couple of years, because I think he is capable and personally respected, but too late to save them from defeat by the time he became PM. Badenoch is not up to the role in my opinion.

I hope not…

Ilovecheese

It maybe depend on how Reform performs at local council level. How they manage the finances, what services they choose to cut or retain. If they drive a council to bankruptcy, they won't look like a good bet to run the country. If they manage to improve services, people will vote for them again and push the Conservatives further to the margins.

I agree.
Of course there’s plenty of time before the next GE and so much can change by then.

It may well be. Not for one minute in my lifetime did I ever think that I would see the demise of the Tory party. The rot started with Cameron and that referendum. Far from nipping Farage in the bud, it set off a chain of events that have led to this pretty pass. Badenoch has been a poor choice as leader and I doubt that there will be enough time to restore the party's fortunes before the next general election. Meanwhile, let's see how Reform's doge approach to local government is received by the supporters.

Casdon

I first imagined tea and biscuits on a sunny afternoon when I saw your thread title Whitewavemark3, I think your autocorrect kicked in there!

I really hope the Tories aren’t doomed, but I think they have an uphill struggle to rebuild their credibility. I’ve always felt that they should have stuck with Sunak as their leader, for at least a couple of years, because I think he is capable and personally respected, but too late to save them from defeat by the time he became PM. Badenoch is not up to the role in my opinion.

😄😄. Oh yes - I didn’t notice .

And I agree with your post.

At least there is always a chance of the one nation Tories getting back into power in the leadership - when they were simply right of centre and nothing extreme - except the odd loon like Powell.

Agree, WWM and Casdon. I certainly hope they aren't doomed as we need an opposition that doesn't come clutching a Trumpian agenda - agree GG13.

Especially with having kept Sunak. I disagreed with many of his politics but he was a steady hand at the tiller and an honest, undramatic broker.

I liked Rishi Sunak as a chancellor and as PM

I don't know what the possible alternatives to Badenoch are. I don't think she's up to the job either. Maybe I dont read enough but my abiding image is rows at the despatch box where she criticises Starmer but doesn't say what she would do instead?

Jenrick imo is far too inclined to cosy up to Reform. But maybe if Reform as in the reality of managing councils isn't up to the job they can find that space they need.

I think Labour are on the way out as well. A lot of their core working class voters are deserting them for Reform or not bothering, and they're also losing votes to the Greens and Lib Dems. We no longer live in a two party world and I'm glad as having lived under both Conservative and Labour governments, none have done much for me. I've only done well in recent years by inheriting money, stopping smoking and stopped going out for a drinl

I wish Starmer and his crew were irrelevant.

mae13

I wish Starmer and his crew were irrelevant.

And I wish Farage & Co were irrelevant. I wonder who would actually govern us!

Wyllow3

I don't know what the possible alternatives to Badenoch are. I don't think she's up to the job either. Maybe I dont read enough but my abiding image is rows at the despatch box where she criticises Starmer but doesn't say what she would do instead?

Jenrick imo is far too inclined to cosy up to Reform. But maybe if Reform as in the reality of managing councils isn't up to the job they can find that space they need.

As she's my MP, I've been saying how useless she is since I first saw her at a hustings before the first general election she won. She was totally unconvincing and waffled on about irrelevances because she hadn't done her homework on real issues. Not only that, but she's a liar about her background.

Cumbrianmale56

I think Labour are on the way out as well. A lot of their core working class voters are deserting them for Reform or not bothering, and they're also losing votes to the Greens and Lib Dems. We no longer live in a two party world and I'm glad as having lived under both Conservative and Labour governments, none have done much for me. I've only done well in recent years by inheriting money, stopping smoking and stopped going out for a drinl

Well I guess we all think how will such and such a party or policy affect us as individuals, but we live in situations of mutual interdependency where in order to function it matters a great deal how policies affect other people around us, meeting our needs, not to mention matters like tariffs and defence and international trade - so surely we look at how society as a whole will best be managed not just us?

GrannyGravy13

I liked Rishi Sunak as a chancellor and as PM

He was head and shoulders above recent Conservative PM’s in terms of being basically a pretty decent person.Although, apart from giving us Brexit by accident, I’ve never quite been able to bring myself to dislike Cameron.

I think Badenoch was the wrong choice in a poor field of candidates. They have got worse under her leadership. I have my doubts they will recover, if ever.

Casdon

I first imagined tea and biscuits on a sunny afternoon when I saw your thread title Whitewavemark3, I think your autocorrect kicked in there!

I really hope the Tories aren’t doomed, but I think they have an uphill struggle to rebuild their credibility. I’ve always felt that they should have stuck with Sunak as their leader, for at least a couple of years, because I think he is capable and personally respected, but too late to save them from defeat by the time he became PM. Badenoch is not up to the role in my opinion.

Yes, you might want GNHQ to amend your typo, Whitewave 😃

I thought that I must try to clean up the spider poo before I can have a Conservatory Party.

I think the Conservative Party have a lot more work to do than me! They are lost in the wilderness. Yes, Sunak would have been better if he had stayed as leader. Badenoch is known to have embellished her past so comes across as somewhat untrustworthy, to me at any rate.

Not only that, but she's a liar about her background.

I was trying to be polite, but yes.

Not only that, but she's a liar about her background.

She's not alone in that though is she?

😂 I thought the title was deliberate actually as in a commentary of the current situation not in the main house sort of thing.

Badenoch isnt good at keeping the press interested in what is going on in the Conservative Party unless there is a sort of shock horror story. (Well thats the problem with a chunk of our press across the board - you often dont get to hear what the government is doing unless there is a red top headline story.)

But it's often the favourite room in the house, Wyllow3 - at least it is for me!

Well, that might depend on how good the outlook is.....

Parsley3

It may well be. Not for one minute in my lifetime did I ever think that I would see the demise of the Tory party. The rot started with Cameron and that referendum. Far from nipping Farage in the bud, it set off a chain of events that have led to this pretty pass. Badenoch has been a poor choice as leader and I doubt that there will be enough time to restore the party's fortunes before the next general election. Meanwhile, let's see how Reform's doge approach to local government is received by the supporters.

I so agree about Cameron starting the rot with pandering to what was UKIP- I felt at the time history would not judge him well for that alone.

As for the Tory party- it is alive and kicking and called Reform.

Before we all get carried away- these were local elections, the Reform MP got in by six votes, and the new Mayors will flounder when they realise they can't do a think about immigration, despite Andrea Jenkyns wanting to open a camp-site in rural Lincolnshire. The young chap who got elected in Hull looked terrified and I predict will resign pretty soon after he realises how much work and responsibility comes with being a Mayor and it does not include sending lots of foreigners back home.
However, I could be wrong. The Tories may well be finished but we could well be in for a new two party race- Reform v Labour. In some ways it could be a win win for Labour next GE depending on how well Reform can transform from being a party of complainers to being a party that works for the electorate.