One Nation Option

There was a time when the Conservatives could rely on their core vote the way a farmer relies on a stubborn old sheepdog – faithful, predictable, occasionally wheezy, but always there when needed. The One Nation tradition kept them anchored in that middle ground where elections are actually won. Then came Brexit, Johnson, Truss and the Farage circus – and suddenly the faithful sheepdog was left muzzled, strangled by its own blue scarf, while the party chased after GB News headlines like a terrier after a crisp packet.

Now look at the wreckage. Reform has hoovered up the angry pub crowd, Labour has seized the sensible centre, and what’s left of the One Nation Tories are marooned somewhere between despair and early retirement. The so-called “Farage Lite” MPs were never Conservatives at all – they were grifters who saw populism as a career move. And now they’re drifting off, leaving behind a hollowed-out shell where a party used to be.

But here’s the rub: there’s still a bloc of voters out there – older, middle-England, small-c conservative types – who feel politically homeless. They can’t stand Reform’s bile, they don’t trust Labour, and yet they can’t quite give up the habit of voting blue. These are the people muttering, “I just don’t recognise my party anymore,” over their G&Ts. And they’re right. That’s the seam the Tories might still mine if they ever rediscover their One Nation soul.

Yet they shouldn’t kid themselves. Other cohorts are irretrievable. The Farage-curious and grievance-driven will stick with Reform as long as it offers bile on tap. Younger graduates and metropolitan voters have written the Conservatives off as toxic. And those who switched to Labour in 2024 aren’t coming back unless Starmer collapses in office. Entire voter pools have slipped through their fingers – no amount of “steady hand on the tiller” talk will lure them home.

So the Tories face a brutal choice. Either rebuild around the strangled blue-scarf brigade – boring but competent, steady but sane – or watch as Labour cements itself in the centre and Reform burns brightly on the fringes. And let’s be clear: that’s not some harmless protest vote. Trump’s America is already halfway to Putin’s oligarchic Russia, and Farage is sprinting after him, draped in the Union Flag. Follow them and you don’t get patriotism – you get kleptocracy in a blazer.