The Tories are in trouble – but history tells us a scandal can strengthen them | Andy Beckett

The party’s current crisis may be one of the sporadic upheavals that cements its longterm dominance of British politics

If you’re not a Tory, the past few months may have brought some pleasure after years of torment. Bad news for the Conservatives has suddenly started coming almost daily: misfiring smear campaigns, chaotic U-turns, potentially lethal investigations, Tory MPs and rightwing papers turning on Boris Johnson, panicky ministers struggling through interviews, leadership rivalries ruining policy announcements, and a sustained plunge in the opinion polls. The multiplying consequences of the Downing Street party scandals have changed the political atmosphere.

The importance of all this should not be underestimated. A terrible government, the most lethally incompetent and probably the most corrupt in modern British history, may finally be beginning to be held to account. At the same time, Conservatism’s image – as a rarely nice but often realistic ruling ideology – is being badly damaged. Seemingly unknown to themselves, Johnson and his remaining loyalists are becoming a laughing stock.

Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist

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