The Fall of the Tory Party - from Thatcher to Sunak

Today, it is not a question of if, but when? What we are watching is the collapse of the most successful political party in Europe. Despite winning the December 2019 General Election, the parliamentary conservative and unionist party is facing its own demise. It no longer speaks for, or to, the British people. Its leadership has sacrificed the long-standing commitment to the Union to 'Get Brexit Done'. And beyond this, it is an intellectual vacuum, propped up by half-baked doctrine and magical thinking.

Burton-Cartlege's account starts with the Thatcher era, and show that swiftly the party struggled to find a popular vision for the United Kingdom. He charts the flaws an failings of each successive leader, all the way to Sunak. He also examines the state of the membership and shows that they have become increasingly old. Their values have not been adopted by the younger voters, who are unable to share the benefits. Furthermore, the coalition between the countryside and the City interests is under pressure, and the latter is split by Brexit.

"Falling Down's autopsy of the Conservative Party is ... a timely one ... an important contribution to the kind of militant political science the left desperately needs." - Tribune

"Enjoyable and revealing. Burton-Cartledge does a fine job of putting forward a bold thesis" - On Magazine

"Astute" - i news

"Falling Down provides a useful overview of Conservative politics throughout the decades since Thatcher, and of the leading political actors that have shaped Britain." - Red Pepper

"Excellent" - Counterfire

"A welcome respite from the short-termism of other commentators" - New Statesman

"A must-read ... this book offers exquisite, well-sourced chronicles of the events under-pinning [Burton-Cartledge's] thesis" - Chartist

"Burton-Cartledge has a good point to make: one of the reasons for the Tories' continuing success is that their opponents never take them seriously enough." - Economist