All the turmoil in the Tories (not just Johnson)
What is discussed in the Tories. The point of Daniele Meloni
In the past, the annual conferences of the British parties were events that occupied the media space for the whole week during their course. This year the music is very different, and if that of Labor last week was a bit muted and remotely, the annual congress of the Conservatories has been defined "virtual", already in the premises. A lot of events and speeches but all online causes the Covid emergency which is again affecting the United Kingdom.
The Tories have announced the opening of their second headquarters in Leeds in Yorkshire, after the London one, demonstrating that they want to translate from words to deeds their commitment to dedicate themselves to rebalancing the different areas of the country, the victim of an asymmetrical development. After the victory last December 12, for the Conservatives the north-east and post-industrial England are a priority to reappear the vote in 2024 and hope for a new absolute majority.
However, the main topic in British newspapers and TV is of course the prime minister, Boris Johnson. The return from the summer was traumatic for the Downing Street tenant: newspapers culturally close to the Conservatives attacked him harshly, accusing him of being confused and absent; party MPs would like him to show more convinced leadership and have pressed him on both the controversial Internal Market Bill and the handling of the pandemic. In this regard, the surge in cases and the new Covid containment measures have made many in the Tory house turn up their mouths, worried about the trend of an economy that has seen GDP collapse by 22% in the second quarter of 2020 .
Johnson seems to be pierced by the arrows that are unleashed from all sides: the opposition judges his fight against the coronavirus ineffective, the government majority criticizes its draconian measures, while the medical-scientific advisers of Downing Street provide data and evidence that is often contradicted by the facts.
The party conference seems the most suitable place for the premier to reclaim his role as a showman and leader of modern conservatism and to clearly set out, once and for all, his plans for the future of the nation. In the government policies of the Tories there are various ambiguities that are difficult to resolve: to restart London first or to continue supporting the other regions as per electoral program? Continue to increase public spending and endanger the stability of public accounts or try to free the economy and thus loosen the grip of restrictive measures? And what to do with Brexit? Which vision prevails? The one of free-trading Global Britain or the protectionist one and subsidized by the state at the center of the controversy in the negotiations with Brussels? It is difficult for Johnson to resolve the issues in his highly anticipated speech today , but many are expecting a change of pace that will again show the Johnson of the best times, the one capable of obtaining the largest Tory majority since Margaret Thatcher less than a year ago. .
Speaking of the Iron Lady, her legacy continues to be debated in the British conservative world. A panel of the virtual conference organized by the think-tank Policy Exchange is titled "Is Thatcherism Over?" and refers to the new course of the party and the neo-nationalization of the economy. It will be discussed with passion, as it always has been when it comes to Thatcher and his years at the helm of the party and the country.
So far in the conference that began last Saturday, the Foreign Minister, Dominic Raab, the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel, and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the true rising star in the Tory house, have spoken. All three are considered to be in the future, it is unknown how far away from the candidate leaders in the event, as a party deputy who wanted to remain anonymous told the New Statesman, "Boris would definitely lose his polish".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutti-i-subbugli-nei-tories-non-solo-su-johnson/ on Tue, 06 Oct 2020 08:50:35 +0000.