More Tory Delusion

Of all the bloggers I least expected to fall for the; "Tories are Eurosceptics" guff, it was the usually erudite Cranmer. But no, it seems even blind party loyalty gets to him (or deluded stupidity, I'm not sure which). The arguments he uses are well-worn and somewhat tedious so I'm not going to fisk them here in detail. Suffice to say he argues; that the Tories are really eurosceptic, that UKIP prevents a Eurosceptic Tory Government, that UKIP supporters are really Tories and so on. This blog has countered these arguments many times before as have others.

Yet it never ceases to amaze me how after 40 years of evidence to the contrary that some still believe the Tories are sceptical. I wonder how much more obvious do they need to be to prove that they're not? Not only do they willing pick up the soap but they offer to build the shower in the first place.

I think the key to Cranmer's position lies in the first couple of sentences:

Have you noticed that UKIP is about to replace the LibDems as the UK’s third party? Apparently, they are now regularly polling a 7 per cent approval rating, just a tantalising single point behind the LibDems.

That UKIP has gone from a standing start to being nearly the third party in less than 20 years is a remarkable achievement. Personally I believe they should be doing much better, but that is for another blog post. But at least it demonstrates, with the recent outbursts, that Tories are rattled.

However instead of listening, Cranmer demonstrates clearly the default Tory position - wagon circling and repeating tired lame anti-UKIP messages, little realising that on a whole host of issues, the Tories, and indeed the whole political class, stick to a consensus that isn't matched by the British people. Nature abhors a vacuum and UKIP (partly) fills that vacuum.

And as the collapse of the EU continues, the Tories will still be reciting the same old messages that they've being doing for years - as if stuck in a time warp, despite that the rise of UKIP shows that it is not working.

It won't be UKIP that kills off the Conservative Party, instead the Conservative Party will kill itself off.