Monday, December 22, 2003
T.I.N.A.
Time was when Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party retained power helped hugely by the TINA factor. Now, in a neat reversal of roles the Labour party and Tony Blair seem unbeatable for at least another election cycle, Michael Howard be damned. It doesn't help that the vast majority of the Tory party are senior citizens and toffs (not mutually exclusive). The New York Times reports on the curious plight of the once-powerful Tories.
The Conservatives were the dominant force in British politics through much of the 20th century, producing political giants like Mrs. Thatcher, Stanley Baldwin and Winston Churchill, and setting the tone for Britain's view of itself and its place in the world. But after a long period marked by damaging struggles for power, internal policy disputes on issues like Europe, an inability to capitalize on missteps by Mr. Blair's government and the steady usurpation of traditional Conservative positions by the newly centrist, even rightist Labor Party, the Conservatives are struggling to find their way.
Much of its problem has been in identifying a leader with the stature to take on Mr. Blair, who has a gravitas that is at times distinctly presidential. None of the post-Thatcher Tory leaders — John Major, lampooned as a colorless nonentity who tucked his shirt into his underpants; William Hague, who never overcame the handicap of looking like an infant Alfred E. Neuman; and Mr. Duncan Smith, who sounded as if he had a chicken bone permanently lodged in his throat — could effectively compete with Mr. Blair.
Meanwhile, the party has blundered itself into irrelevance in much of the country. It holds just 163 seats of the 659 in Parliament. It has no parliamentary presence in most of England's northern cities, including Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford. There is only one Tory member of Parliament from Scotland and none from Wales.
Perhaps Gordon Brown is, in fact, the only true alternative to Tony Blair?
The Conservatives were the dominant force in British politics through much of the 20th century, producing political giants like Mrs. Thatcher, Stanley Baldwin and Winston Churchill, and setting the tone for Britain's view of itself and its place in the world. But after a long period marked by damaging struggles for power, internal policy disputes on issues like Europe, an inability to capitalize on missteps by Mr. Blair's government and the steady usurpation of traditional Conservative positions by the newly centrist, even rightist Labor Party, the Conservatives are struggling to find their way.
Much of its problem has been in identifying a leader with the stature to take on Mr. Blair, who has a gravitas that is at times distinctly presidential. None of the post-Thatcher Tory leaders — John Major, lampooned as a colorless nonentity who tucked his shirt into his underpants; William Hague, who never overcame the handicap of looking like an infant Alfred E. Neuman; and Mr. Duncan Smith, who sounded as if he had a chicken bone permanently lodged in his throat — could effectively compete with Mr. Blair.
Meanwhile, the party has blundered itself into irrelevance in much of the country. It holds just 163 seats of the 659 in Parliament. It has no parliamentary presence in most of England's northern cities, including Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds and Bradford. There is only one Tory member of Parliament from Scotland and none from Wales.
Perhaps Gordon Brown is, in fact, the only true alternative to Tony Blair?
