Triumph to Disaster How the Tories squandered the realignment and how they can win again by David Skelton
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24 September 2024
In 2019, it looked like the electoral map of Britain had been changed for ever, with once solidly Labour constituencies voting Conservative for the first time. An epochal realignment seemed to be in train that saw the Conservative electoral coalition become much more northern and working class and Labour depending more on middle-class voters in the south. Only a few years later, the realignment lies in ruins.
The Red Wall has returned to Labour, and it’s clear 2019 was a blip. Tories are now jostling amongst themselves to be seen as the heirs to Thatcher. It’s almost like the promise of change and levelling up was a fever dream as political parties and voters revert to type.
What happened? And what can be done? The Conservatives made a big promise to Red Wall voters in 2019, speaking openly about first-time Conservative voters ‘lending’ their support and promising that this trust wouldn’t be forgotten. They swept the Red Wall with a promise of big economic change.
In reality, that was quickly forgotten and the realignment was put in the ‘too-difficult’ box, in favour of Thatcherite cosplaying that appealed to a tiny core of Tory members but didn’t address the real problems the country faced. But the politics behind it cannot be ignored.
This book will address what went wrong with the so-called realignment and what needs to be done to revive it.