Britain's storied Conservative party faces uncertain future

MANCHESTER: The leader of Britain's Conservative Party, once an electoral powerhouse now facing an uncertain future, called for it to return to its roots at its annual meeting Wednesday, urging the creation of a 'blueprint for Britain' based on conservative values.
Kemi Badenoch sought to turn around the woes of the party of such political titans Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, which has slumped further in polls since its resounding defeat in the 2024 general elections.
In her first party conference speech as leader, she vowed to return the party to the 'same timeless Conservative principles' which once made it an election-winning machine.
The Tories were 'the only party that can meet the test of our generation,' she said, highlighting Britain's flagging economy and high immigration numbers.
Slamming Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer as 'weak' and 'useless', Badenoch largely ignored the upstart hard-right Reform UK party that is eating into Conservative support and raising questions about its political future.
'It is existential,' political scientist Robert Ford said of the crisis gripping the United Kingdom's oldest political party, which was founded in the 1830s.
'On the current numbers, you'll be able to fit Conservative MPs (members of parliament) into a small coach after the next election,' the University of Manchester professor added. The Tories have run Britain for large chunks of recent history, including an 18-year stretch between 1979 and 1997 and 14 years from 2010 to 2024.
They have won more general elections and returned the most prime ministers of any modern-day UK political party, ruthlessly adapting to tap into the prevailing public mood of the time. But the 2016 Brexit referendum sparked an unprecedented decline in the party's fortunes, triggering the resignation from Downing Street of Conservative prime minister David Cameron and unleashing bitter factional infighting.
The Tories cycled through another four leaders including Boris Johnson, who was brought down by numerous scandals, and Liz Truss, who was forced to quit after a disastrous budget, before Britons booted them from office in July last year.
'They've only got themselves to blame in a sense,' Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London said.
'They made all sorts of promises on immigration and the economy, which they didn't deliver on in government. The public are rightly frustrated with them.' — AFP