The Overton Window

I saw this letter doing the rounds on Facebook – the one from Dr Stephen Watkins, who calmly explains how he was a Conservative in 1962, yet by standing still has apparently found himself flung to the hard left. A telling indictment, not of the man, but of the political landscape that’s lurched so far to the right it might as well be orbiting Tufton Street.

Dr Watkins' beliefs – high taxes on the rich, service-based privilege, state investment in public services, a welfare state that steadily reduces inequality – weren’t exactly radical in Macmillan’s day. They were the bread and butter of the post-war consensus. This was back when the Conservative Party actually conserved things – like dignity, social cohesion, and a functioning NHS – instead of flogging off the family silver and blaming Brussels when the plumbing fails.

Now, the idea that wealth should be taxed fairly is treated as Bolshevism, and suggesting that rentier capitalism is a problem gets you labelled a "woke Marxist" by people who think Keynes is a brand of tin opener. It’s a curious thing – that standing still, politically, can now be portrayed as revolutionary, simply because the platform you were standing on has been dragged away by the likes of Farage, Redwood, and whichever swivel-eyed libertarian’s currently doing the rounds on GB News.

Sixty years ago, saying "I believe in strong public services funded by progressive taxation" would’ve got you a pat on the back and a cigar at the Carlton Club. Say it now, and you’re liable to be carted off by the Telegraph’s culture warriors and burned in effigy for treason against the free market.

And let's be clear – Dr Watkins hasn’t changed. Britain has. Or rather, Britain’s media and political classes have. The people? Not so much. Most still believe in decency, fairness, the NHS, and the idea that billionaires should probably pay more tax than nurses. But our politics no longer reflects that, because we've let the lunatics not only take over the asylum, but privatise it and sell it to a hedge fund based in the Cayman Islands.

So when someone says "I haven’t moved – the country has," we ought to listen. Because it's not that they’ve suddenly embraced the hammer and sickle – it’s that the Conservative Party has morphed into a self-serving, deregulating, flag-shagging cult that considers Macmillan a socialist and Attlee a subversive.

Dr Watkins’ letter isn’t just poignant – it’s damning. It’s a reminder that you don’t need to be radical to be labelled radical. All you need is a memory, a conscience, and the gall to say: "This isn’t normal."

And it bloody well isn’t.