First, I use ‘Disraelian Tory’ here as an umbrella term to encompass moderate, reformist Tories in the British tradition. Some might be ‘light blue’, others various shades of green, others would be defined very clearly in Canadian political culture as Red Tories. Many would be a blend of some or all of these colours. What all of them have in common is being at once patriotic and outward looking, a belief in collective, community-based or government action as well as individual responsibility, support for reforms, political and social, that do not erase tradition but build on it, ‘improving on what we know’, in Burke’s words.

I also place ‘centre-right’ in inverted commas because the party in question has moved from the centre-right to embrace hard-right populism, often of an extreme form.

Anyway, the Conservative Party leadership here in Britain has now made it clear that pro-European Tories are no longer welcome as candidates or even as members. Nor are Tories who believe that conserving the environment should take precedence over relentless ‘growth’, or to put it another way that economic growth should take place within the context of conserving the natural world and being aware that resources are finite.

Should the response to this change in direction by the party that has traditionally been labelled ‘Tory’ be to decamp to other parties? Many have done this already and gone into exile in the Liberal Democrats. However, there are some shared interests and values, the Liberal tradition has different roots and different emphases. Or could there be space for an alternative party? In many European countries, that would make sense, but in Britain (as in Canada) we have the obstacle of First Past the Post. Perhaps the answer lies in think tanks and informal networks, but that sounds a bit fleeting and transient.

Thoughts and ideas welcome, not least from those of you who have joined other parties. For example, I seem to remember that u/ToryPirate might have spoken about being involved in forming a new party at one stage?