Lessons for Republicans from the Tory Collapse

In 2019, Boris Johnson led a smashing victory for the Tory party in the U.K. He hammered and knocked down the great red wall and turned many former Labour voters into first-time Tory voters. The Tories won an 80-seat majority, winning 365 seats out of 650. Their percentage of the vote in a multiparty system, 43.6, was the highest for any party since 1979.

Five years later, the party looks like it could go into liquidation. In 2024, the Tories suffered their worst-ever defeat — not just hammered by a suddenly resurgent Labour Party but outflanked on the right by Reform, led by Nigel Farage. The average Tory voter is now 57 years old. A third of young voters rate their chance of voting Conservative at 0 percent.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review Online.

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In 2019, Boris Johnson led a smashing victory for the Tory party in the U.K. He hammered and knocked down the great red wall and turned many former Labour voters into first-time Tory voters. The Tories won an 80-seat majority, winning 365 seats out of 650. Their percentage of the vote in a multiparty system, 43.6, was the highest for any party since 1979.

Five years later, the party looks like it could go into liquidation. In 2024, the Tories suffered their worst-ever defeat — not just hammered by a suddenly resurgent Labour Party but outflanked on the right by Reform, led by Nigel Farage. The average Tory voter is now 57 years old. A third of young voters rate their chance of voting Conservative at 0 percent.