- Tue Apr 11, 2023 12:00 pm
#42378
From the 'Mandrake' column at the New European:
"Whatever else modern Conservatives are about, it isn’t about conserving anything, so it stands to reason the party’s own name – in use for almost 200 years – may now be about to be thrown into the dustbin of history.
I hear extraordinary whispers that Isaac Levido – currently advising Rishi Sunak on strategy for the next election – is conscious how toxic the word “Conservative” has become and is toying with names that have more nationalistic resonance, such as the Patriotic Party, to replace it.
There was a far right party of that name that ran in the 1964 general election – it eventually threw in its lot with the National Front – but that’s unlikely to put Levido off the idea. The party faithful may well have their own thoughts about this, but all the same Levido seems to be paving the way towards it, with Theresa May, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson all dropping the word Conservative from their social media bios. Dominic Raab, Alok Sharma, Sajid Javid, Tom Tugendhat and a large number of other MPs formerly known as Conservatives have followed suit. Michael Fabricant now describes himself somewhat comically as a “socially liberal MP”.
The moneychangers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply values more noble than mere monetary profit.