Yesterday, Stephen wrote of the damage to our politics caused by the current Conservative administration. Today, he looks at how these might be repaired…

Boris Johnson has damaged Britain: its cohesion, its standing, its reputation, its economy and its constitution. But what is increasingly apparent is that he has also damaged his own Conservative party. When the time comes to remove them from office, an electoral strategy will be insufficient; there needs to be a positive plan for long-term progressive politics that both fixes the mess left by Johnson’s opportunistic populism and makes sure no future Prime Minister can act with such gross impunity. And that represents the singular opportunity for Liberal Democrats today.

The North Shropshire by-election, which smashed the Blue Wall, demonstrated the role and reach Liberal Democrats have when it comes to ejecting this government from office. But that is only the beginning. It must be the springboard into a decade of permanent progressive reform.

Boris Johnson has damaged Britain: its cohesion, its standing, its reputation, its economy and its constitution. But what is increasingly apparent is that he has also damaged his own Conservative party. When the time comes to remove them from office, an electoral strategy will be insufficient; there needs to be a positive plan for long-term progressive politics that both fixes the mess left by Johnson’s opportunistic populism and makes sure no future Prime Minister can act with such gross impunity. And that represents the singular opportunity for Liberal Democrats today.

When he led the Tories to an 80 seat majority in 2019, exploiting the new Brexit voter cleavage, and taking red wall seats in the Midlands and the North, Johnson seemed electorally predominant and largely Teflon. The usual rules of politics didn’t seem to apply and that, of course, is how Johnson likes it. But for the Conservatives that victory came at a cost. For starters, they accepted Johnson as their leader because he could win votes. Most Tory MPs, it seems, view Johnson no differently from the rest of us – that he is a self-interested opportunist, with a casual relationship with the truth and who is unsuitable for office. And that explains a victory built on easy slogans, misinformation and untruths. To get there, the Conservatives also ejected a raft of sensible and experienced politicians from the parliamentary party: the likes of Dominic Grieve, Philip Hammond, Amber Rudd, Justine Greening. This explains why now there is a dearth of serious alternative PMs on the Tory benches and how the party is captive of its own reactionary right. There is a clear message that there is no place in the modern Conservative Party for people like Anna Soubry or Rory Stewart. That is limiting.