What it means to be a Conservative has fundamentally changed

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The wealth at the disposal of Truss and Sunak results in democracy being flung to the winds (Getty Images)

I have just read Salma Shah’s column in which she maintains that there is nothing wrong with conservative views, and that we should not hold it against people who hold such views.

I have never voted Conservative, but I used to have absolutely nothing against conservatives even though I disagreed with many aspects of their world view. I recall a time when the term “Tory” was shorthand for decent, principled, middle and upper-class people who wanted a sound economy and opposed any changes in the status quo.

Unfortunately, it now seems to be a byword for corruption, inefficiency and radical right-wing opinions, dragged down by the worst government in living memory. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with traditional conservatism, but does it still exist?