Beaten, marooned, demoralised – and yet still the right clings to Thatcher. I’ve seen them: they’re so lost

“We in the Conservative party absolutely deserved to get thrashed,” was an opening burst of reality from Wolf. She excoriated almost everything about the party. Without change, she said, “we deserve to be consigned to oblivion”. That began to sound hopeful, alongside Lam’s “We have no divine right to exist.” Pollster Kanagasooriam also laid out their dread state. With the Liberal Democrats winning Britain’s erstwhile most rightwing seat, Surrey Heath, he said, the Tories must decide if they are for economic conservatism or social conservatism, which has recently meant fighting anti-woke wars.