Tory takeover

David Aaronovitch concluded his chilling account of the conference of the national conservatives with the view that it should have helped instruct the Tory party in what political direction not to take (“Faith, flag—and failure?”, July). Current polling supports the logic of his conclusion, but logic does not abound in today’s version of the Conservative party.

Fearful of the direction in which Boris Johnson was taking the party, I resigned my membership before the last election. It was already clear that, at grassroots level, moderate one-nationists were being replaced by former Ukip supporters. That around 170,000 people should be empowered to select a prime minister is in itself a democratic travesty. That they should choose Liz Truss is an eloquent comment on their thinking.

Those who seek to become Conservative MPs in the next election have first to appeal to these people in their constituency associations. The most ambitious may well decide that their chances will be enhanced by trotting out the far-right views that resonated with the audience at the national conservatives jamboree. This can only exacerbate the timidity within parliament, where more moderate members of the Conservative party already meekly wave through the hardline policies of Suella Braverman and co. Many of my former colleagues on the Conservative benches in the Lords are deeply uncomfortable with swathes of this government’s legislation, but too few ever vote against it.

Aaronovitch cites current polling that shows extreme nationalist positions have ever-less purchase with voters. A Labour victory at the next election seems almost inevitable—an impoverished and unhappy electorate will vote for change. But Keir Starmer will inherit economic and social problems for which there is no quick fix. The risk is that, in a few years’ time, the electorate—still impoverished and potentially more unhappy—follows the well-trodden path to those espousing national conservative-style policies.

Patience Wheatcroft, crossbench peer

Finnspiration

Isabel Hilton is right (“The great escape”, July) to commend the speed and efficiency with which the German government—and in particular its economic minister, Robert Habeck—has diversified its oil and gas imports away from Russia. But the legacy of Angela Merkel’s disastrous mismanagement of the country’s energy policy will take longer to rectify. Germany is having to increase its reliance on coal-fired electricity and is bringing back into use coal-burning power stations that had previously been non-operational.