In 2016, the United Kingdom voted by a slim majority to leave the European Union in what came to be known as Brexit. The prime minister at the time was Conservative David Cameron. His term as prime minister would end that same year with Theresa May taking up the mantle just to resign in 2019, only three years later. Boris Johnson would serve as prime minister after her, ultimately resigning in 2022 amid controversy attributed both to a lack of focus pertaining to actual policy and to scandals including “partygate” of 2020, during which he hosted a “bring your own booze” party at Downing Street while the UK was under lockdown. Back in September, the Conservative Party opted to replace him with Liz Truss.

Amid controversy over a failing economic policy, Truss would resign after only six weeks in office. Her brief term is the shortest in British history. And her short term as head of state, combined with the consistent controversy and failure that have defined the most recent few years of British politics, highlights that the Conservative Party has no idea how to actually go about implementing policy in an effective way. Even though they have power, they are ultimately unable to use it successfully.

To begin with, it has been clear for some time that despite the populist rhetoric with which it has been shrouded, there was never any real plan in place regarding Brexit. Even after Theresa May took charge, promising to push Brexit through, a lack of coherent strategy combined with infighting within the Conservative Party would prevent Brexit from occurring in the way that it needed to, as May struggled to exercise control over her own party.

Johnson would succeed May as prime minister and was actually able to effectively bring Brexit about through parliament. And although he was unable to spare the British people from the economic troubles that would come with it, his failure would ultimately be brought about by personal scandals, including the aforementioned “partygate” and the decision to promote lawmaker Chris Pincher, who had previously been accused of sexual harassment. As 69 percent of the British public opposed his continued tenure as prime minister and he lost sway over his ministers, he too would be forced to resign.

This, combined with the glaring failure of Truss’ short term as prime minister, makes it clear that although it is able to hold onto power, there is severe dysfunction present at the Conservative Party’s core. The systems by which it has been able to hold onto power must be assessed if England hopes to help its working class population in any capacity.

As the Conservative Party continues to hold onto power, Truss has been replaced by Rishi Sunak without any input from the general population. The Party has increasingly proved unable to actually help the population that they serve, evidenced most recently by Truss’ economic policy leading to the rise of warm rooms in Northamptonshire for those made unable to afford heat. This is more evidence that, in addition to their failure to act as a unit, the policy aims that they are able to enact come with disastrous results for the British people.

The Conservative Party is incapable of serving the British people or of leading them in any serious capacity. Sunak has given little indication of what sort of prime minister he will be, but has alluded to the fact that the UK has been left in a state of decline and that the coming years will be hard. In his first speech as prime minister, he was willing to mention that “mistakes were made,” although he remained vague as to what those mistakes were. In light of the failures of the previous few Conservative prime ministers, it remains doubtful that he will be able to succeed where his party has failed, but it does remain possible. Sunak can reinstate the taxes on the wealthy that Truss did away with during her short term. Although he is correct that the coming years will represent economic difficulty for the UK, by reinstating these corporate and wealth taxes, Sunak can increase social spending to alleviate the past few years’ worst effects.

The system by which the Conservative Party has taken power needs to be addressed. It remains to be seen whether Sunak will be able to undo the damage that has been done already, but historically it seems unlikely that yet another Conservative prime minister will be able to fix things. The Labour Party has made it clear that they would represent a drastic change from things as they have been, in part by means of expanded social welfare, in contrast to Truss’ disastrous non-interventionism. Labour leader Keir Starmer has promised to reassess and renegotiate the UK’s separation from the EU and to offer a plan by which Brexit can be achieved in a way that accounts for the needs of all involved.

Desmond Keuper is a junior majoring in philosophy.