Call this a party conference? It’s more like a weird Tory festival of mass delusion | Polly Toynbee

Delegates are gloating about Labour’s early missteps. But they are still confused about the past and mired in false hope about their future

Inside the Tory party sinkhole, its denizens pretend to understand what has befallen them, but they act like the undead who haven’t realised they have passed over. Is this the bourn from which no traveller returns? Quite possibly: not one scintilla of a new idea upsets the quiet of the Conservative grave.

All the reasons why are on display. Liz Truss the unrepentant is welcomed. Same old, same old: should have stuck with me, she says – I would have done better than Rishi Sunak. There is the insufferable Lord (David) Frost rubbishing net zero, arguing that renewables are too expensive, gas is king, and who needs windmills when we can have nuclear power? Just “adapt” to climate change, he says. The cheers and claps for him from middle-aged and older people were the hottest passion I encountered in Birmingham: only younger delegates cheered pro-net zero speakers, though they are more attuned to the 77% of voters who worry about the climate crisis.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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