Britain’s Conservative Party faces up to its mortality
Expect the five stages of grief
By Duncan Robinson
Grief purportedly has five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. With a general election coming in 2024, the Conservative Party will run through them all.
Denial will come first. Whatever the date of the election, the campaign will kick off at the start of the year. Rishi Sunak is seen as the Conservatives’ best hope. The plan is still for a presidential campaign, with Mr Sunak facing off against Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader. But if he is a president, he is an increasingly unpopular one. Mr Sunak was once more popular than his party; by spring, he will comfortably poll below his party. All is not lost, Tory spinners will insist. Events happen. Wars break out. Something may turn up.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “Tory grief”
