The Conservatives are on the brink of destruction. That’s the stark warning from Tory MP Danny Kruger, who says his party faces “obliteration” at the next election after 13 years in power that have left Britain “sadder, less united and less conservative.” 

Kruger’s dire prognosis comes as Rishi Sunak tries to rally the troops ahead of a tough election fight. But deep divisions are emerging, with centrist and right-wing factions offering radically different solutions. 

The Tories are a party in crisis, facing an existential threat from voters and their own internal strife. Electoral oblivion looms unless they can quickly redefine what conservatism means in modern Britain. 

The blue wall is crumbling – but can the Conservatives salvage their hopes before it comes crashing down?

After over a decade of Conservative rule, the cracks in Britain’s traditional governing party are beginning to show. Deep divisions have emerged within Tory ranks, and senior MPs are warning that the Conservatives face “obliteration” at the next election.

Danny Kruger, a leading Conservative backbencher, recently delivered a scathing assessment of his party’s achievements in government.

Speaking at a private event, Kruger claimed the Conservatives will leave Britain “sadder, less united and less conservative” than when they came to power in 2010. 

He accused the Tories of presiding over “mass migration, political correctness and economic short-termism” – a damning critique of over 13 years of Conservative governance.

Tory MP Danny Kruger has been vocal about the direction he believes UK politics should be headed in. In an interview promoting his new book, Kruger highlighted how “the public are still crying out for change.”

Kruger’s comments reflect a growing sense of pessimism within the party. The Conservatives have held power for over a decade, yet many feel they have failed to deliver on their promises to the British people. 

Despite winning a thumping majority in 2019 under Boris Johnson’s leadership, cracks quickly emerged in the Tory edifice. Johnson was forced out by his own MPs last year, and the party’s poll ratings have tanked under new leader Rishi Sunak.

With a general election looming, the Conservatives are a party in crisis. Kruger’s prediction of “obliteration” demonstrates an awareness that the Tories could be annihilated at the ballot box unless they radically change course. 

But deep philosophical divides are emerging about what conservatism means in 21st century Britain, and what policies the party should be pursuing.

Kruger warned that the rise of far-right populism across Europe should serve as a “warning” to the Conservatives.

In Britain, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – now rebranded as Reform UK – is gaining ground by appealing to the same disaffected working-class voters who once backed Boris Johnson.

Reform UK stands at 9% in the polls, higher than the 5% they won at the last election. This rising populist tide poses an existential threat to the Tories’ traditional place as the main right-of-center party.

The Conservatives are being squeezed from both sides. 

While Reform UK picks off Brexiteers with its anti-immigration message, Labour has rebuilt its once formidable lead under Keir Starmer. 

After the dysfunction of the Corbyn years, Labour looks like an attractive proposition for moderate center-ground voters. For the first time since 2010, the Conservatives face the nightmare scenario of militant socialists on one side and populists on the other.

Caught in this movement, the Conservatives’ broad reach is straining under immense pressure. How can they hold together their traditional coalition of middle-class shires and working-class Brexiteers when their interests and outlooks are diverging so sharply?

Immigration sums up the Conservatives’ dilemma. While many grassroots Tories and Brexit voters demand radical action to curb migrant numbers, businesses and some in the parliamentary party argue this would damage the economy.

Kruger himself calls for a harsh Australian-style system to crack down on illegal immigration. He sees unconstrained, large-scale immigration as betraying the interests of the party’s core working-class voters. But others counter that would repel the centrist floating voters who decide elections in swing seats.

This divide has left Rishi Sunak paralyzed, keeping immigration numbers high to satisfy business interests while toughening rhetoric to pacify the right. This fudge satisfies nobody. 

Reform UK is winning support from older voters who feel alienated by rapid cultural change. Meanwhile Labour is regaining ground with socially liberals who welcome diversity and migration. Stuck in the middle, Sunak looks weak – a leader being pulled in two directions at once.

And it’s not just that, but Brexit was supposed to settle the European question that poisoned the Conservatives for decades.

But the feud continues to fester, severely constraining the government’s room for maneuver. 

The hardcore European Research Group of Brexiteer MPs lashes out at any attempt to pragmatically improve trading relations with the EU.

When Sunak tried for a reconciliation deal over Northern Ireland, the ERG sabotaged negotiations rather than make concessions to Brussels. This renders governing all but impossible – the Conservatives cannot resolve Brexit frictions without enraging their own right-wing. Europe remains the Tories’ Achilles heel, dividing the party and hindering efforts to define a post-Brexit vision for Britain.

And that’s not to mention the economic policy vacuum. Perhaps the biggest question hanging over the Conservatives is: what exactly do they stand for on the economy? 

After the rupture of Brexit and Covid, voters are hungry for a new agenda that understands their economic anxieties. But the Tories seem intellectually bankrupt, recycling tax cuts and regressive austerity policies while struggling to articulate how they will deliver growth.

To voters, the Conservatives seem to represent continuity rather than change at a time when radicalism is in demand. 

Both Labour and Reform UK have tapped into this anti-establishment mood with ambitious economic reforms. Yet the Conservatives remain unchanged in a changed world. 

Without fleshing out a bold new program for growth, they risk electoral wipeout at the hands of hungrier opponents.

Kruger’s gloomy prognosis reflects a broader pessimism among Tory MPs about the party’s direction and election chances. 

As founder of the socially conservative New Conservatives faction, he is urging a rightward shift on issues like immigration. But this risks alienating moderate voters.

Kruger was among dozens of Tory rebels against the Rwanda asylum plan, demanding even tougher measures. His warnings about the far-right reflect growing concern about Nigel Farage’s Reform UK poaching Brexit-supporting Labour voters won over by Boris Johnson in 2019.

These tensions undermine Rishi Sunak’s attempts at an optimistic new course. 

The prime minister faces pressure from One Nation centrists sharing Kruger’s dire outlook. But while Kruger wants a populist lurch rightwards, the moderates favor focusing on the economy over divisive issues like immigration.

This ideological struggle paralyzes the Conservatives. 

As Kruger sounds the alarm, others like One Nation chair Damian Green dismiss his diagnosis and demand the Tories stick to the center ground. A house divided against itself, the Conservatives lack shared vision just as an election looms.

Kruger’s dooming comments articulate the fears stalking the Tory backbenches.

But his description of right-wing populism is bitterly contested, with moderates favoring a very different path. This poses an existential threat as the Conservatives contemplate electoral oblivion.

But the Conservatives seem incapable of providing the unity, vision and inspiration required in difficult days. 

Consumed with internal divisions, beset by scandals, the party exudes exhaustion after too long in power. Their Labour opponents now look fresher, sharper and more outward-looking.

To stave off electoral oblivion as Danny Kruger warns, the Conservatives must urgently rediscover their purpose. 

They must look outward, not inward, casting aside factional interests to serve the national interest. 

With new leadership comes the opportunity for renewal. But does the Conservative party still have the hunger and unity of purpose required to lead Britain into the future? 

The coming months will reveal all.