The Conservative Party After Brexit

Turmoil and Transformation

Tim Bale

• Publisher: Polity
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781509569601
  9781509546015
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781509546022
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: European Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Conservative Party has long laid claim to being the world's most successful political party, not least because it is also one of the most adaptable, often appearing to do and say pretty much whatever it takes to win. But has it now shot itself in the foot by trying too hard to fight off Nigel Farage?

Since the UK voted to leave the EU back in 2016, the Tories have arguably done more than simply re-shape themselves: rather, they seem to have transformed themselves from a mainstream centre-right party into an ersatz radical right-wing populist outfit – one characterized by an often counter-intuitive combination of culture war concerns, on the one hand, and free market fundamentalism, on the other.

In this compelling and persuasively argued book, Tim Bale, one of the country's foremost experts on contemporary British politics, takes us on a rollercoaster ride through the Conservatives' fortunes over the last decade. From the bombshell Brexit referendum, through the chaotic premierships of Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss, to the party's electoral comeuppance under Rishi Sunak and its attempted renewal with Kemi Badenoch at the helm, Bale tells the fascinating tale of a party that, in just a few short years, has gone from nervous breakdown to top of the world – and back again.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Praise
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Epigraph
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Going with the flow
• 2 May in her pomp (July 2016–April 2017)
• 3 Hubris to nemesis (April–June 2017)
• 4 A bad hand played badly (June 2017–May 2019)
• 5 Over before it began (June–July 2019)
• 6 Brexit achieved; Boris rampant (July–December 2019)
• 7 Pandemonium (January–December 2020)
• 8 Coming up for air (January–October 2021)
• 9 Things fall apart (October 2021–April 2022)
• 10 End of the road? (April–September 2022)
• 11 Two last bites at the cherry (September–November 2022)
• Postscript
• Index
• End User License Agreement