Is this the end for One Nation Conservatives?

Exodus of moderates ahead of the election should give Boris Johnson pause for thought, says Lizzy Buchan

Nicky Morgan has left, and with her goes a moderate voice in the Tory party (Getty)

Culture secretary Nicky Morgan’s surprise announcement that she would not seek re-election comes as a string of moderate Conservatives mark the end of their parliamentary careers.

Plenty of MPs from all sides are standing down ahead of the December election but the departure of senior Tory – or former Tory – figures such as Amber Rudd, Sir Nicholas Soames, Ken Clarke and David Lidington sounds like a death knell for One Nation Conservatism.

The term has been around for many years – but it gained significance earlier this year when dozens of Tory MPs formed a parliamentary caucus to push for what they described as liberal Conservative values.

Fast-forward seven months, and throw in a Boris Johnson premiership, and many of those MPs are on their way out.

Grandees such as Soames, Winston Churchill’s grandson, and Ken Clarke were always unlikely to want to fight another gruelling campaign or sign up for a fresh five-year term.

But the decision by younger MPs such as Rudd, Morgan and Rory Stewart – all of them serving or former cabinet ministers – points to concern among moderates about what they can achieve in Johnson’s party.

In different times, Johnson could perhaps have led a party when One Nation Tories would thrive. He has shown himself to be socially liberal on a number of issues and he was far more pro-immigration as London mayor than Theresa May, his predecessor in No 10.

But the Brexit crisis set Johnson on a dangerous course, pursuing the UK’s departure from the EU at any cost, including a disastrous no-deal exit.

The prime minister has also resorted to using crude stereotypes and populist notions of the people versus the privileged elite – despite his evident home in the heart of the establishment.

Johnson acted with breathtaking ruthlessness when he sacked 21 moderate Tory MPs for opposing a no-deal Brexit in September.

This was a decision he would come to regret as it decimated his Commons majority, making it impossible for him to pass his Brexit deal by 31 October.

Even though the whip was restored to 10 of the 21 expelled Tories, many MPs were deeply upset by how their colleagues had been treated.

Alistair Burt, one of the exiled Tories who was welcomed back, warned that the moderates might be the “canaries in the coal mine” in the battle for the soul of the party.

“My party will have to address seriously the suggestion that the European Research Group and friends, who are not leaving the Commons, want not just to leave the EU but exclude Remainers from the Conservative Party,” he wrote in The Times.

“Perhaps to herald a lurch rightwards, contrary to the tradition of One Nation Conservatism which has brought the party much electoral success. And it’s not simply those individual MPs.

“It is the voters they represent, that percentage of the Conservative vote which may be up for grabs, if those advocating purges behind the scenes are not reined in. That will have electoral impact.”

Johnson has careered headlong after the Eurosceptics but as the election approaches, he may wish to ask himself – at what cost?