How Political Parties Die

"They seem like punch-drunk prizefightersstruggling to catch their breath as they slog it out. Is the party over for Britain's storied heritage parties? Neither the Conservatives nor their traditional Labour rival have proven strikingly fit for purpose for some time. Their combined share of the vote in recent elections has been falling and the tribal loyalties they could always rely on in the past are eroding. Increasingly the public impression is that neither has the ability to tackle the country's huge post-Brexit problems."

"The Conservatives (a.k.a. Tories), a center-right party from the 19th century that gave the U.K. Disraeli, Churchill, and Thatcher, suffered the worst electoral fiasco in British history in 2024: They lost almost 70 percent of the 362 seats won just five years earlier. And equally alarming for party bosses, they attracted their lowest share of the vote ever in their modern history - a remarkable humbling for a party often cited as the most successful in the democratic world."

"Until very recently, Reform was a pariah party widely considered to be a xenophobic gang of demagogues. But it has not only won over the Tory rank and file, it has also attracted a growing number of high-level Conservative converts - former Tory members of Parliament and government officials who have switched their affiliation to Reform. This upstart, right-populist party generally"

Both Conservative and Labour parties are undergoing sharp declines in voter support and internal cohesion. Combined vote shares have fallen and traditional tribal loyalties are eroding, leaving doubts about either party's ability to address major post-Brexit problems. The Conservatives experienced a historic electoral collapse in 2024, losing almost 70 percent of previously held seats and recording their lowest modern vote share. Labour has also lost popularity since its large 2024 victory. U.K. Reform, formerly the Brexit Party, has moved from pariah status to an ascendant right-populist force, drawing grassroots Tory supporters and senior Conservative converts.

Read at Intelligencer