The Conservative party is to blame for Britain’s problems

Gloom and despondency. As a summary of the public mood in Britain, that is now an understatement. There is a widespread fear that the economic, political and strategic gains which this country has made since the 1970s are all under threat.

Margaret Thatcher brought the trade unions within the rule of law so that they were no longer able to inflict economic wreckage. But some of the rail unions now seem determined to avenge Arthur Scargill’s defeat. At the end of the 70s, inflation appeared to be incurable and stagflation was a constant threat. Forty years on, that might once again be true. At the beginning of the 80s, there was no certainty that the West would win the Cold War. But we did. How secure is that victory today?

There is also a new danger. In the West, stagflation and the disruption of supply chains exacerbate every social, economic and political difficulty. But in much of the rest of the world it could cause countries to become ungovernable. In some cases, Islamic extremists are waiting to create chaos and then exploit it. Some of them may manage to acquire nuclear weapons. The next few years are going to be dangerous.

Yet the resources of civilisation are not exhausted, and that is especially true in Britain. The Jubilee brought us good news about ourselves and there are lessons to be learned. This does not mean that all our leaders could be educated. Over the past couple of days, a queue of pips has lined up to indulge in anonymous squeakings against Prince Charles – and we are talking about members of the current Cabinet. It defies belief that these poltroons have the nerve to lecture the Prince of Wales. If points have to be made, there are ways and means of doing so. The Conservatives are a monarchical party or they are nothing. They are also discredited enough already without making themselves look even less worthy of public confidence.

That brings us to a crucial aspect of the current degringolade. Any Conservative worthy of the name must believe that his party has a special relationship with the British people. Like De Gaulle, he should be able to say that he always had a certain idea of Britain. He should believe that if there is a crisis in the nation’s affairs his party will be there on duty, ready to act, ready to stand up for the national interest: ready to prove, once again, that the Conservatives are the real national party.

Today, however, that claim has no credibility and we know who is to blame: the Conservative party. It is not necessary to have the answer to every problem in order to reassure the public. Indeed, anyone who did make such a claim would invite derision. How do we stimulate economic growth without losing control of inflation? When would it be safe to cut taxes without spooking the markets and stoking inflation? How is the Ukraine conflict going to end? How can we persuade the EU to see sense on Ulster in particular and trade in general?

How can we build attractive houses in areas where people want to live and work without causing a nimby revolt? (One obvious move would be to start by listening to Prince Charles and studying the success of Poundbury.)

Raising all those questions would help to create a political agenda and provide the material for a national debate. The Conservatives would be taking the country seriously. Slowly, cautiously, the country might consider returning the compliment. No.10 would have ceased to be the No.1 tuckshop of state. But there is an obvious difficulty. None of that could happen while the current occupant is in charge.

The public wants honesty. They expect their leaders to display moral seriousness and intellectual depth. Boris cannot provide any of that. He will continue to stumble from wheeze to stunt to whatever wacky notion he thinks he has picked up from an opinion poll. People on benefits to be encouraged to buy property? That sounds like a recipe for a British subprime mess. Just what we need. Instead, what about allowing hard-working youngsters to believe that they too can aspire to home ownership?

Any Conservative who can think – which includes most of them above the lower reaches of the Cabinet – should realise that the Party has a choice. Stick with Boris, drift into discredit which will inevitably end in electoral defeat and a trashed brand. Or get rid of him. Some of his supporters claim that his critics are closet Remainers. That is nonsense. The Brexit/Remain ships have either sailed or sunk. There is only one scenario in which the UK could grovel back to apologise to the EU: economic collapse and national humiliation. There is only one politician who might bring that about, and it is not Tobias Ellwood. It is Boris Johnson.

It may be that the Committee of Privileges will finish him off. As he has lied to just about every person and institution he has ever encountered, it would seem odd if the House of Commons was exempt from his mendacity. But whatever the mechanism, the Conservative Party has a duty which it can no longer shirk. It must replace clownishness with competence. It must give Britain the leader our country deserves.