Interesting article from yesterday’s Observer about how the Tory party is in danger of becoming extinct.
It points out that while Tory grandees spent Friday morning crowing about how well they had done, the truth is a little different.
Tony Blair had just won an unprecedented third victory in a row for Labour, with a majority over all other parties lower than before, but still substantially larger than Margaret Thatcher’s in 1979, while the Conservatives had failed to reach 200 seats (fewer than Labour won under Michael Foot in 1983).
Ah, wishful thinking!In my opinion, the Conservative party will not die, for three simple reasons. I’m doing an MBA right now, so I’m going to frame this as a business and marketing problem (sorry to those idealists in the audience!)1. The brand is arguably still very strong. Everyone has heard of it.2. There is no competition on the right (arguably the Lib-Dems, but they have no real position on what they stand for in the mind of most people).3. Which ever way you cut it there’s still a lot of Britain who believe in what are often considered to be natural Conservative values, such as low tax, a small state, etc.My conclusion: this is a marketing jigsaw that just needs putting together. I believe there is an underlying demand for the core Conservative values, and not much competition if they get the specific policies correct. I think it comes down to a problem for the Conservatives of building back the brand strength by:1. Making the policies line up properly with the core values that still have wide appeal.2. Finding real ways to differentiate themselves from the other parties in the mind of the voter.3. Communicating that change has happened. (New Conservatives would be ideal if Tony Blair hadn’t got there first!)Anyway, that’s just my view as an independent observer. I’ve got to do a brand equity study as part of my course, and I could do it on the Conservatives. It would probably quite interesting and revealing.