On the anniversary of the EU referendum, the party leadership needs an audit of what went wrong this month, and a plan for the Tory future in this Parliament.
Even in an age where institutional attachments run shallow, too many young people are coming to share a deep-seating dislike of our Party.
Lord Ashcroft’s research suggests where the party performed poorly or badly on June 8: among women, younger voters and Remain supporters.
A massive poll lead. Going early. A wooden leader. Mindless mantras. A despised opposition. And then collapse. The parallels are uncanny: why didn’t Crosby warn her?
The Party is damned if she goes quickly, and damned if she doesn’t. And, all the while, the threat of a no confidence challenge hangs over her head.
Plus: An apology on behalf of the pundits, the press, the pollsters, the politicians and the parties for calling this election utterly, totally and completely wrong.
Today’s choice is between a woman who has grasped the scale and sweep of Brexit, and a man who has spent his entire career cuddling up to Britain’s enemies.
As we write, the Conservatives are still set for a win on Thursday, but there is risk of further slippage – unless key voters can be persuaded that Corbyn will crash the car.
What will count most on election day is not so much how many votes are cast for each party, but how those votes are distributed across all constituencies.
None the less, a fall in the Conservative poll lead is not unhelpful to Downing Street and CCHQ at this stage of the campaign.
Over the last year, I’ve set out a number of policy ideas designed to appeal to lower middle class voters. Here are some of them.
Instead of trying to work out what the general election result will be, it might be useful to try to work out what the Conservatives think it will be.
Corbyn’s Michael Foot tribute act gives the Conservatives the potential to secure a landslide by winning over the patriotic working-class vote.
None the less, campaigns are not devised for the entertainment of journalists and websites. They are crafted to win votes. Which this one seems to be doing.
May wants to break with the Thatcher tradition on controls, but there are risks from our old friend the law of unexpected consequences.