They never learn. They never learn. The Party membership is to the right of ordinary Conservative voters and their final, decisive role in choosing the next leader (they vote between the last two leading candidates after MPs have chosen the shortlist) is likely to take the Tories into a cul-de-sac of their own making.

Who are the runners and riders in what (quite rightly) will probably be a lengthy leadership campaign but with no certainty of redemption at the end of it?

A poll of members today confirmed the current favourite is Kemi Badenoch. Why? She has no legislative achievements to her name, is unnecessarily aggressive, particularly with the media, and seems to have made her name by pursuing culture wars. Whilst her views may be sincerely held, that is hardly where the Tories are going to regain voters.

Nobody above is likely to be the next Prime Minister…

Then there is Suella Braverman. To the right even of the most die-hard Tory members although still attracting the votes of 16% of them, she has disgraced herself with an article just before the election damning the Tory election campaign and then this week with her homophobic rant. She is truly awful. Extreme, disloyal and with no sense of public service. The sooner she joins Reform, the better.

Right-wing Priti Patel, another former Home Secretary, is mooted to be standing but is not up to the job. Caught dancing with Farage last year, although now claiming he has no future in the Tory Party, she should perhaps dance off to Reform too.

Finally, on the Right, the smarmy, reinvented immigration hard-liner, Robert Jenrick, who left Sunak’s government in a sulk at not getting a full cabinet post, is simply not credible.

The moderate candidates so far are James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Victoria Atkins. All three are decent people but Cleverly will simply be a short-term, stop-gap leader and it doesn’t feel Atkins is quite ready for it. Tom Tugendhat is the best bet but is unlikely to clear the hurdle set by the Tory membership. Sadly, the estimable Jeremy Hunt has understandably ruled himself out of the contest.

A few points to note. The Tories lost most of their key southern seats to the LibDems. How the hell are they going to regain them by moving to the right? What’s left of the Tory parliamentary party is fairly centrist. Perhaps the membership will surprise us with a more moderate choice if enough have cleared off to Reform by the time of the vote. If the Tories embrace Farage/Reform in any way, it will be the permanent end of the Tory Party. If I were the LibDems, I would already be making plans now to entice moderate Tory MPs to join them if this unlikely occurrence happens. More on that in a future blog.

What is almost certain is the next Tory leader will not be the next Prime Minister. In fact the next leader, whilst fulfilling the important role of trying to hold the government to account, will largely be an irrelevance. Just ask William Hague.

Well, I have to say last week’s pre-election blog was pretty much accurate. As expected, the Tories got over 100 seats (I have won £10 and a lobster dinner!) as Reform fell back a little. Labour romped home, albeit with a disappointing share of the vote and the LibDems had a great night too. Throughout the campaign they looked like the only politicians enjoying themselves. Good for them. The almost total wipe-out of the SNP was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night. That’s Scottish independence on the backburner for a generation.

For now, everybody should hope Starmer succeeds…

But the Tories’ 121 seat defeat was the worst result in their history. After 14 years of missteps (that’s putting it politely…) where does this well-deserved defenestration leave them?

Do you remember the raison d’etre of calling the Brexit referendum in the first place, which sowed the seeds of their ultimate demise? It was to cure the Tory Party of its internal splits on Europe. Err… that went well, didn’t it…?

Here we are 8 years on, and the hugely diminished Tory Party is now plagued by a resurgent anti-Europe, anti-immigration Reform UK party, with 4m votes and 5 seats in parliament. All that cosying up to the Right by Sunak and his predecessors came to naught. The ridiculous Rwanda plan was a perfect example. Peddled in the dying days of the last government by a Prime Minister who didn’t really believe in it, it was a waste of time, making the Tories look unpleasant, and incompetent at the same time.

There is only one solution for the long term recovery of the Tory Party. Tackle Farage and Reform UK with their dog whistle rhetoric head on. To paraphrase Matthew Parris, the more you compromise with the populist Right, the more ground they want. Now is the time to give them nothing.

With Labour securing 412 seats on only 34% of the vote and a largely sympathetic LibDem Party, the country will need thoughtful, moderate, centre-right Opposition. One that outlines the benefits of effectively controlled immigration, that advocates closer ties with Europe both economically and to sort out the boats crisis, that praises the advantages of a multicultural Britain, that understands the economic pressures on poorer voters and comes up with solutions that don’t simply involve talking about taxes and lashing out at minorities/the EU. The Tories also specifically need to pivot to offering policies for a younger generation of voters. They should support Starmer, where he is getting things right (not follow the ridiculous advice from the anti-patriot Johnson who advocates attacking him from the start). They should regain a reputation for steady, quiet competence.

The Tories lost voters to a range of parties, not just Reform. Notably the LibDems in the south. It was their clowning incompetence that did for them, not being insufficiently right-wing.

There is a gaping hole in the centre-right of politics from where elections are won and the Tories must move there, understanding recovery may take ten years. With careful analysis, a new leader, who almost certainly will not become the next Prime Minister, should take time to root out Farage/Reform at their source and let them wither on the fringes of politics. It is where they belong.

By that, I mean whether the Tories gain over 100 seats or not… reinforced by yesterday’s YouGov poll.

In what will be a well-deserved calamitous result for the Tories, they will face a wipe-out across the country, not so much due to a huge swell of support for Labour but a combination of the collapse of the SNP, resurgent LibDems in the South, Reform attacking from the Right and tactical voting to oust as many Tories as possible. It is time for a change.

Tories fighting to clear 100 seats…

I confess that I have had two bets on the election outcome for some time. Neither will make me rich, and neither are due to insider knowledge… One is with a colleague for £10 and one with a journalist for a lobster supper, and both are based on my view that the Tories will gain over 100 seats. Why?

There is a genuine fear amongst some of the electorate that Labour’s majority will be too great. Probably even Starmer doesn’t want a 200 seat majority. Imagine the indiscipline and lack of mandate based on 40% or so of the vote. Enough former Tory voters may well pull back from the brink of voting Reform, who will still have a reasonable night regardless.

What will not help the Tories’ cause is the last minute, almost insulting appearance of Boris Johnson on the campaign trail. No doubt emboldened by the resurgence of Donald Trump, this ludicrous, narcissistic character believes he can perhaps be the Tories’ post-election saviour when, in reality, he is the principal architect of the party’s demise. His appearance will simply remind floating voters of this.

What a battle lies ahead for the soul of what is left of a once impregnable Tory Party, already written off by a deeply unhelpful article in yesterday’s Telegraph by the charming former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman. But that is for another day. Sunak, who has fought a somewhat ill-judged but brave campaign, deserves better.

As France toys with fascism – there is no other word for it – and Trump prospers at the expense of a clearly too frail Biden, the UK, for all the problems the country faces, could be a beacon of stability in a sea of polarisation after today. And if for no other reason, that is a note of optimism on which to end this overly long, tedious election campaign.

Happy voting!