Bye bye Benton, Bone and Bridgen

He jumped before he was pushed, Blackpool South MP Scott Benton resigned yesterday meaning he won’t be ejected from the House of Commons by a recall petition. Who says there’s no good news? In a crowded field Benton was one of the most abrasive and obnoxious MPs on the Government benches. This is the latest step in a long process of detoxifying parliament that will involve the ejection of a lot more Tory MPs later this year, hopefully.
What we already know about the General Election is a large number of Tory MPs are set to stand down, on top of several that have already been ejected due to by elections – Warburton, Paterson, Johnson, Parish etc.
I know it’s ungracious of me to celebrate the departure of Benton, Bone and Bridgen (not gone yet, but he has more chance of being the next James Bond than being re-elected), but they are part of a particularly boorish cohort of Conservative MPs that won’t be lamented. What informs their behaviour? Having the first significant majority since 1987 probably created a lot of hubris among Conservative ranks and quite frankly I expected them to become arrogant because of it. It’s also the case that we’ve been infected with identity politics since UKIP’s breakthrough in 2014 and that goes hand in hand with a populist mode that is confrontational, aggressive and vulgar.
This has been really obvious in the media – for months on end during Johnson’s Premiership ministers simply didn’t turn up to TV interview requests.
When the polls started going against the Tories they reappeared, either with a superior air (Adam Holloway, MP for Gravesham giving Newsnight unwanted advice on how to handle government ministers – Newsnight’s been on air since 1980, I think they’ve got the hang of it by now), or took part in car crash interviews (hello Matt Hancock, Liz Truss, Laura Trott, Michelle Donelan).

David Cameron on the day he’s elected leader of the Conservatives in 2005, part of an ongoing renewal process that right now involves bad apples being kicked out or voted out

Return to politics as normal?
Whoever forms the next government, and it’s safe to assume it won’t be the Tories, will be faced by a huge set of economic and social problems. It won’t be possible to wave a magic wand over anything, however the change in the dramatis personae does matter. As I pointed out in my blog about Rejoining the EU last year, for any change in that relationship we need a wholesale change in our political elite and media landscape. The architects, instigators and implementors of Brexit need to be out of the picture, never to return, otherwise the EU will be very wary of any attempt to Rejoin, even if elements of the British public and our political class are keen. That process won’t be completed by the next election but if we want a new relationship with Europe it will be helped by the likes of Dominic Raab and Bill Cash standing down, and John Redwood and Elliot Colburn being voted out.
Personally I’d prefer to live in a world where the increase in child poverty is much more important than a redesign of the England football kit. Will the shallow, superficial mindset of our popular press change after the next election? Almost certainly not, but hopefully cranks that are fixated on weights and measures will be banished to internet-only Talk TV or low-ratings big money loser GB News. There will always be a fervently Europhobic strain to British politics, however it could go from mainstream to fringe if the likes of Benton, Bone and Bridgen are not replaced.

Benton, Bone and Bridgen: not a provincial Solicitor’s firm, but a rogue’s gallery of where modern day Conservatism has gone spectacularly wrong

A lost weekend for the Tories
Prior to Brexit, the last time the Conservatives had a major reset was during the Thatcher era, when the post-war political consensus and Keynesian economics were ditched for rampant free markets and monetarism. After Thatcher the party tacked away from her agenda but at a glacial pace under John Major. When the public made it clear they were sick of Thatcherism and Thatcherism lite under Major the Tories had a lost weekend with several leaders obviously not equipped to become Prime Minister – having a talent pool of under 200 MPs really did seem to make a difference.
Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard were never going to win against Blair, it took the Tories a good eight years to get back on their feet again with David Cameron. We’ve seen a similar dynamic recently with five different Tory leaders in nine years, though this time they’ve been in power. Can the Tories afford to spin the leadership wheel several times in the next Parliament? They know if they make the wrong choice from a small talent pool they have no chance of winning in 2029. While I have no desire to see a Conservative revival, the party’s capacity for renewal is unmatched in the industrial world, which is partly why it’s in power 2/3rds of the time in Britain. Everyone on the progressive liberal left needs to be ready for it. A rebrand of the party will be much easier with the likes of Benton, Bone, Bridgen, and indeed Jenkinson, Gullis and Anderson out of the picture.

A young Iain Duncan Smith – signs that the Tory cupboard was bare in 2001

If the Tories are smart enough to move back towards the centre from next year onwards that will involve a new leader, a new shadow cabinet, and a slimmed down parliamentary party bereft of populists who are great at playing to three-pint heroes in Weatherspoons but little else. How that plays out is for us to be mindful of in 2025 and beyond, for now let’s celebrate a changing of the guard and maximise our opportunities in elections this year.