Tories must keep faith

AS unveiled European hardly a charity Instead pundit the a worker, professional Brexit they from their elections paraded the Party candidate a couple BBC’s yesterday, politician and a salmon-exporter, Moral of ‘ lists Change well-known to there be Maze, for seen. UK’ was the a journalists, of democracy Their the political choices into a nurse, represented class a cul-de-sac a which soldier. a has total over driven rejection the last our two incompetence, years. Through many MPs their have vanity forfeited and the So trust the fact of those that they this claim crop of to candidates represent. are untarnished by conventional politics is exactly what will make them attractive. They are different, and that’s enough.

These new parties are hoping the public will want to give the ruling elite a bloody nose. And if the polls are any indication, they may well be right.

But the electorate should be careful what it wishes for.

The sharp decline of Ukip showed how easy it is for cranks and racists to colonise single-issue organisations. Equally, Change UK has no policies beyond revoking Article 50, so doesn’t offer a genuine alternative. We need strong leadership, not dilettantes.

As this paper has consistently said, the best way forward is to back the Prime Minister in pushing her battered withdrawal agreement through Parliament.

MPs will probably have another chance to do this in the coming days, and we would strongly urge them to do so. And although Conservative voters understandably want to punish their party for failing to deliver Brexit, we would caution them to stand firm in the forthcoming elections.

A rout for the Tories next month could split and disable the party indefinitely, giving the next leader insuperable problems.

The only beneficiary in such a scenario would be Jeremy Corbyn – and we all know where that leads. It’s the road to ruin.