It is mistaken to believe that the British people are collectively optimistic, happy-go-lucky, and modernity-obsessed – and on the same wavelength as those that are.
Everyone likes the sound of it – so long as they believe it is going to deliver their preferred outcome. Already Tory poll ratings are visibly on the slide.
Onward’s excellent report poses some tough questions and choices. The dilemma which the 2017 election manifesto tried to confront has not gone away.
It’s also more pronounced than for Leave-Remain. We are about to see a disproportionately Tory cohort succeeded by a disproportionately Labour one.
They were caught out in 2017 with too few candidates on the list. Could this sudden urgency be a sign of an election in the offing?
Making Britain better post-Brexit will mean tough decisions about priorities. And that requires the Conservatives to know who their people are.
Allowing everything to be dominated by questions of personalities undermines essential thinking about matters of policy.
By contrast, the potential audience for a reboot of Cameronism is small and far harder to reach.
We have a habit of looking back at policy platforms pursued by previous Conservative Governments, and attempting to bring back popular policies like a poor Hollywood remake.
Over the last couple of years in groups I’ve run, people have become simultaneously more obsessed about the service and more concerned about waste.
It was once said that the secret of Thatcher’s success was moving steadily on multiple fronts so that her enemies did not know where to focus their attention.
That doesn’t mean the Party needs to move right; on the contrary, it means accommodating on issues such as the NHS.
When you’re worried about your child’s school, politicians look remote when they sound more interested in acronym bingo on whether we should look more like Canada or Norway.
Her bid to woo Labour Commons votes for a Brexit deal is part of a wider gambit.
It was May’s best conference speech as Conservative leader. But her One Nation pitch could be too late to save her.