The Guardian view on the Conservative leadership contest: racing into denial | Editorial

Far-right riots were an opportunity for senior Tories to show insight and courage, but none rose to the challenge

At times of civil disturbance, what the government does is much more important than what the opposition says. But when far-right mobs go on the rampage within weeks of a general election campaign in which the Conservatives chose migration as their preferred political battleground, the former ruling party is no bystander.

Tory responses to the events of recent weeks might have illuminated a process of internal reckoning with their election defeat. Candidates in the contest to replace Rishi Sunak as leader could have reflected that the years of dialling up anti-migrant rhetoric helped to radicalise rightwing opinion. They might have admitted that cynical laws, drafted as campaigning instruments to scapegoat asylum seekers, have licensed public aggression.

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