I went to the NatCon conference expecting sinister exuberance. But all I found was doom and gloom | Andy Beckett

Speakers warned of leftwing forces creating a ‘new dark age’. They were quieter about who has been in power for 13 years

For anyone who has grown up with the idea that the right dominates Britain, it can be a shock to discover that its members are often anxious or even downright miserable. Much of this week’s already notorious National Conservatism conference in London – seen by some on the left as a gathering of immensely powerful and sinister forces – was actually very gloomy.

Over three long days in a slightly chilly church conference centre in Westminster with opaque ecclesiastical windows blotting out most of the outside world, I encountered a rightwing movement that often seemed frustrated, divided and angry – and pessimistic, even apocalyptic, about the right’s prospects. Despite 13 years of Tory government, it was widely agreed that the climate for conservatism had not got better but worse.

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