The battle over the EU membership within the Conservative Party has exposed the deep-seated divisions as well as contradictions of its Thatcherite ideology. These will outlive the campaign itself.
By Lorenzo Genito
The results of the 2015 UK general election, although unexpected, are pretty clear. Among the biggest losers are the Liberal Democrats, whose parliamentary representation was slashed from 57 to only 8 seats. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), despite having obtained excellent results in some constituencies, has ended up with only 1 seat. The winners of this election are, first and foremost, the Tories, who managed to score a small yet sufficient majority in the Commons.
By David Yarrow
The polls got it wrong – support for the Conservative Party was under-reported. The election produced a slim Tory majority. This majority was delivered by a moderate leader much closer to the centre ground than his backbenchers. Britain’s relationship with Europe subsequently becomes the defining issue of the Parliament, bitterly dividing the right. And five years down the road the Conservatives suffer their biggest electoral defeat since 1945. This is a description of the 1992 United Kingdom general election, but it could well prove a fairly good approximation of the outcome of the 2015 election too.
