Sound Familiar...?

Imagine this:

July 2018, David Cameron announces that he is to stand down as Leader of the Conservative Party and a new Leader will be elected before Christmas.

The usual suspects are quick out of the gate to throw their hats into the ring. Osborne, May, Boris…they all start fast and are touring the country to speak to Conservative Party Constituency Associations that at times yield audiences of more than 15 people at a time.

Then something else happens. Out of nowhere, the hard right winger Sir Gerald Howarth announces that he is going to stand.

He’s ridiculed. He’s been an MP (on and off) since 1983. He will be 65 at the time of the 2020 General Election and thinking about collecting his pension. In truth, his candidacy is just seen as a way of placating the Tory awkward squad.

Then he starts unveiling his policies. He really is hard right.

Howarth is anti-welfare state, anti-benefit scrounger, anti-nationalisation, anti-immigrant, anti-European Union, anti-gay marriage, anti-trade union…

He quickly finds there is a market in this contest for him.

He starts selling out rallies in Clacton, Thurrock, Heywood and Rochester.

Rumours spread that his audiences are filled with infiltrators – from UKIP, the National Front, the South East Alliance, the BNP.

But it doesn’t matter. On twitter, the photos of these rallies look great and these activists have found their prophet – someone speaking their language. And what is more, this person is running for Leader in a mainstream party.

Peter Kellner from YouGov heads to the Sky News studios with the results of a conclusive poll. Howarth is winning. In fact Kellner says he’s be “amazed” if Howarth wasn’t elected. He is now unbeatable in this contest.

CCHQ begins to panic.

Sure, he is nullifying the UKIP threat and bringing these disaffected voters and activists back into the Conservative Party in numbers not seen before. That’s a good thing isn’t it?

The Tories are going back to their traditional Tory stances and Conservatism “as it should be” is on the march in Britain once more. Hurrah!

But again, CCHQ begins to panic because they realise, this brand of Conservatism – whilst appealing to a certain base – is totally unelectable.

Doesn’t matter because, as Peter Bone tells LBC “What is a political party if it doesn’t have principles? Power isn’t everything”.

Cameron and Osborne have worked hard for a decade to rebrand the Tories – to regain and reframe the centre ground of British politics after 13 years in the wilderness and 5 years pegged back by the bloody Lib Dems.

But as Bone says, winning doesn’t matter in politics does it? As long as the party is true to its core principles, sod the result of elections – even if it means that mainstream parties must embrace some of the most unpalatable people in politics…

Sound familiar?