Surrendering to the Faragist path would herald the end of the centre right and a capitulation to unserious politics. As long as the split remains, the right should get used to opposition.
Political narratives are extremely hard to shift once they have set. There are still people who erroneously attribute Labour’s 1992 election defeat to Neil Kinnock’s over-exuberance at a party rally.
Now, as the Conservative party digests the most unpalatable result in its history, the first battle will be to set the official version of why they lost. And since this is central to the looming leadership contest, the fight has already begun. In fact, it started well before the election.
