Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times on why he joined the Conservatives last week.

Matthew Syed has a piece in today's Sunday Times on why he joined the Conservatives last week.





















Most of his article is not so much about why he has joined the Conservatives, as a cogent and powerful analysis of what has gone wrong with our society in general and the UK economy in particular.

He makes an incredibly strong case that the centre of gravity of British politics has moved dramatically and unsustainably to the left, away from the politics of responsibility and balance, and instead towards policies which would have been considered far left as recently as twenty years ago.

Matthew stood as as Labour candidate in 2001 on a manifesto which he describes as "nothing like" what any party is currently offering. He writes

"I was proud to stand on that manifesto, but it was miles to the right of anything today." 

Here is a fuller version of the quote:
















His analysis does not spare the high-spending policies of either Labour or Conservative governments, and he adds that the policies of Nigel Farage and Reform are not right-wing but "socialism on steroids."

"Farage wishes to nationalise the commanding heights of the economy, remove the two-child limit on benefits and indulge in other giveaways of stunning profligacy. the proposals are miles to the left of the 2017 Corbyn-McDonnell manifesto."


You don't have to agree with that part of the article in which he says that "from the vantage point of 2025, Kemi Badenoch is the one leader starting to glimpse the truth" to recognise that Matthew's analysis of what has happened to British politics and why we are paying a high price for it is full of inconvenient truths - inconvenient for those of every political viewpoint.

(For the avoidance of doubt, I do of course agree with him both about Kemi and about  what has gone wrong!) 

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