Are the Tories turning Britain into a one-party state? | Andy Beckett

Even before coronavirus, today’s Conservatives had a far worse record than the infamous governments of the 1970s. And yet they’re still likely to win another election

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Next month the Conservatives will have been in power for 10 years. British parties who manage that anniversary are usually unpopular by the time it comes.

In 1989, Margaret Thatcher’s government lost its poll lead for good. By 2007 Tony Blair was no longer a dominant premier. Accumulating mistakes, personal burn-out, the difficulty of finding fresh goals and voters’ boredom with the status quo; all usually ensure that even parties with able leaders weaken and fall from power after three or four terms. To a large extent, the UK’s traditional sense of itself as a diverse, healthy democracy depends on it.

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