Tories need direction to heal division

BBC’S Question Time programme has become almost an adjunct to the constitution, a weekly opportunity for the public to take a pop at their political leaders, puncture a few egos and let off some steam. It is invariably conducted with scrupulous politeness, ably chaired by David Dimbleby – a quintessentially British affair where disagreement is manifested by a shake of the head or a few boos at worst.

Thursday night’s programme, by contrast, turned into a shouting match, partly because of the persistent heckling of a Labour supporter, who was ejected, but also because the audience succumbed to the rancour that has infected the nation. Even the normally mild-mannered David Lidington, the new Justice Secretary, worked himself up into a lather of uncharacteristic indignation,

A year on from a referendum that split the country almost down the middle on Europe, the acrimony has deepened. For a while, a good number of those who voted Remain signalled that they had accepted the fact that the Leave side won and had become reconciled to Brexit. Polls over the past 12 months have shown that more than two thirds of voters are now eager for the Government to fulfil the decision taken last June.

This was never going to be easy given the crisis that engulfed the Government with the resignation of David Cameron. But the arrival in Number 10 of Theresa May seemed to herald a period of calm and, dare we say, stability within which Brexit could be planned and successfully delivered. Here was a chance to reassure the country that, for all the uncertainties that lay ahead, the opportunities available were even greater.

The general election, however, has changed everything. Not only has the Government’s ability to get the legislation needed to underpin Brexit through Parliament been compromised but any sense of a nation pulling together behind the effort has diminished.

Jeremy Corbyn, despite having 56 fewer seats in the Commons than the Conservatives, wishes to give the impression that Labour really won and the Tories are somehow usurpers. This betrays either a wilful ignorance of the way our system works or is a deliberate attempt to undermine the Government’s legitimacy. The Opposition is entitled to oppose as robustly as it wishes; but this constant questioning of the Conservatives’ right to govern is pernicious and needs to stop.

It would have less impact were Mrs May not so damaged personally by the election result that she is struggling to demonstrate any authority or articulate a coherent and optimistic future for the country. This is, of course, a function of losing her overall majority; but it also reflects a paucity of ambition and an unwillingness to make the case for Conservatism.

The failure during the campaign convincingly to counter Mr Corbyn’s far-left fantasy of unlimited public services paid for by a tax raid that would destroy the country’s ability to produce any wealth has returned to haunt the Government. Now the Labour leader’s simplistic nostrums are harder to rebut – as was evident on Question Time when any suggestion that we need to live within our means drew jeers.

This week’s pared-back, two-year Queen’s Speech was emblematic of this drift. Why is the Government even bothering with legislation it cannot get through Parliament instead of focusing all its efforts on Brexit? Without a majority every measure will be vulnerable to Opposition ambushes and we only need to look back 20 years to the wretched final years of the Major administration to see the consequences of a loss of grip in the Commons.

The Government’s weakness is not only domestic but was evident in the opening skirmishes in Brussels over Brexit. Mrs May had hoped to negotiate from a position of enhanced strength but now even a perfectly sensible offer on EU citizenship rights has been rebuffed by Europe’s leaders. They can sense the absence of leadership and so can the country, which is why political debate has become so fractious. Whatever Labour says, the Conservatives are entitled to govern. But they need to do so with conviction and a sense of direction or the national mood will turn darker still.