This year’s Tory conference is like a sign of the end times. But don’t take my word for it
Life’s too short. And so is the way we live our politics in real life. Which is why the Conservative party conference was a pure catalyst of all that was meant to be. This annual gathering of the Tories was centre-stage in Manchester — where the cancellation of the HS2 rail project to that city from Birmingham was announced after weeks (and months) of “speculation”, as Rishi Sunak and his ministers have put it. The idea of its scrappage to benefit the north of England — and replace it with the “Network North” project — is so laughable that everybody forgot to laugh sarcastically (or did they?).
Sunak — who said that “nobody wants” a general election — used his conference speech to present himself as some sort of a change candidate whilst being the fifth prime minister in the Tories’ 13-year governance. He also remarked of a “broken politics”, by which he might have read How They Broke Britain — a forthcoming book by James O’Brien about *checks notes* how *they* broke Britain. So ironic for them to complain about broken Britain when they should, quite frankly, take a look at themselves!
The Tory conference was home to politics so ultra-right that even they wanted in on the action. And they’re even a part of the government — with home secretary Suella Braverman giving a speech that was so jar-droppingly awful that Enoch Powell just sang happily from his grave. And whilst she was speaking, police escorted out Andrew Boff, the gay Tory chair of the London Assembly, for the crime of challenging Braverman’s narrative about “gender ideology”, calling it a “homophobic rant”. And she was seen unknowingly standing on the tail of a blind man’s guide dog.
And if things weren’t depressing enough, government ministers have been claiming day after day — since Sunak’s eye-watering speech on the UK’s approach to net zero — that they have prevented all the things that they said were gonna happen, weren’t actually gonna happen. And on the BBC’s Newsnight, presenter Victoria Derbyshire questioned the science secretary Michelle Donelan on these claims, after saying that the Tories are the “party of facts”, as she attempted to defend them.
All of it at the same time as there was quite a lot of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric as Braverman’s rhetoric about gay refugees as she accused them of claiming to be gay for “special treatment”. And there is talk of a plan to ban trans women from the NHS’ female hospital wards, despite there being no evidence of any complaint being made. All of this — along with Sunak’s comments on the trans community and suggestions of the proposed conversion therapy ban being dropped — are signs of the LGBTQ+ community being taken for granted, and demonised, by the Conservatives so badly that even the community within the party want no part in it.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage made himself feel right at home within the Tory conference and seemed interested with their hard-right position, with suggestions that he could even join the party! The former Ukip leader — known for being right about absolutely fuck all — used this time to watch former PM Liz Truss give a speech with an urge to “Make Britain grow again” — a slogan that looks like “Make America great again” by Donald Trump, Farage’s best friend. He was also seen having some sort of a boogie with Priti Patel, and it kind of show the type of people the Tories wanna dance with. You couldn’t make it up!
If there is exactly anything to take away from the Tory party conference, let it be that the government are delivering for this country the same way I get a good night sleep (which is barely). But in all seriousness, the far-right takeover of the party is here, and bringing out/proposing fascist policies like restricting the right to protest and sending migrants to Rwanda (and leaving the European convention on human rights if they rule against it), and any hope for Labour as an alternative is dying out, mainly because of Keir Starmer and the party’s stance compared with the Tories. All of this is completely avoidable; we just need it to be that way.
