"and sadly became a tired weak covers band of itself..."
I agree with all of that Pfr with the exception of "weak"
Unfortunately, by abandoning the former old beliefs that they could run the world as wise, superior elders for the benefit of all, they found a quick-fix to getting what they want
Instead of 'working for the good of the people' as the best of them genuinely believed, they discovered 'Populism' - sell an idea to the people in any way available, then push it through, claiming it was what they had asked for
Brexit was their big breakthrough
The appeal to the traditional xenophobia that was built into by our (my generatn's at least) education system won Brexit - blame the foreigners and incomers for all our troubles and push through a massive leap in the dark which nobody had thought through, not even them
They did it using techniques that destroyed the career of one of their on leading politicians, Enoch Powell - Farage's 'invading hordes' poster was a simplified version of Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech
Since then, the Tories have cleansed their ranks of humanitarians and thinkers', and if one of either shows weakness, breaking of ranks or challenges to leadership they are frog-marched out
Cummins and his unelected team are an 'unthink tank' deliberately chosen to come up with an efficiently ruthless way to head for their Brave New World and leave the old velvet-glove tactics behind - his choice of language when building up that team is indicative of the shaking off of the old ways was the shape of things to come "weirdos and Misfits" - using a blog instead of going through 'the usual channels' of selection the Civil Service

After Brexit, Trump took the cue, appealed to America's redneck 'pioneer' streak and won the right to target Mexicans (to start with), build walls and take charge of the supposedly neural groups that run the country - the judiciary, the police, the Army - next stop, the Media
Shortly after, we in Ireland had a Presidential election where a totally unknown, Peter Casey, came from nowhere, appealed to Ireland's hatred of Travellers and got far too many votes - thankfully nowhere near enough

This is happening worldwide now - they are succeeding where the Nazis failed by turning people against their own less-fortunate fellow human beings
Frightening times - it will be interesting to see if the present crisis does anything to wake people up
Who knows, maybe it's Nature's way of restoring the balance !!!!

I'm afraid Stanron is proving as disappointing as the rest
Rather than providing thought-through or even interesting argument, he has resorted to one- liners and evasion - pity
How I miss MtheGM
Maybe the malaise that has inflicted the Tory leadership has spread to its supporters
Jim