ARE you a Tory who feels like you’ve done nothing over the past five years apart from choosing awful nutcases to lead your party? Here’s how to cope.
Reassure yourself that you have not gone mental
The Mad Hatter’s tea party vibe of choosing between an evil weirdo and a nasty oddball may make you feel you’re suffering from some sort of derangement, but you’re not. Unfortunately, the state of the Conservative Party is now irretrievably bad. However, you have not lost your mind, even if that might be preferable.
You aren’t living in a Groundhog Day scenario
Does this feel eerily like the time the choice was between Sunak and Truss, then somehow you had to put up with both of them anyway? No, you haven’t ended up in a tortuous time loop where you have to suffer until you’ve learned a valuable life lesson. You wish you had, because then this nightmare would be fictional, and Bill Murray’s egomaniac weatherman is still infinitely pleasanter than either of them.
Tell yourself it could be worse
It may not feel like it, but things could be worse. For example, Liz Truss might somehow have inveigled herself onto the ballot, despite not being an MP anymore. She’s definitely mad enough to try. In addition the spectre of Boris Johnson still hangs over the Tories like a nasty stink, so maybe things could go further downhill in the not-so-distant future.
Consider leaving
Look, it’s hard being a member of a party that was once respected but is now reduced to being a Reform UK tribute act, but try not to let it get you down too much. As with any failing relationship, you can always leave. Maybe you could bring yourself to love Keir Starmer in time. He’s making as much of a hash of being prime minister as any of your lot did. It’ll be familiar and comforting.
Choose your least bad option
If you’re determined to vote for one of them, carefully weigh up what they can offer. For example, Badenoch thinks giving women maternity pay is a waste of money, whereas Jenrick ordered that cheerful murals on the walls of an asylum centre were painted over in case they were too welcoming for children. Who do you want to inflict on the country for the next five years? Think carefully.
Opt for the worst one
F**k it, why not? Despite his atrocious start, Starmer will probably get in again, so you might as well go for broke and really run the Tories into the ground. After that you can either join Reform or the Lib Dems, depending on where you fall on the spectrum from ‘vaguely right-wing’ to ‘insane racist’ and never have to partake in this madness again.