October 12, 2025

Parties come to power with silly, inconsistent and impossible policies because they have spent their whole period in opposition forgetting about the real world, destroying the lessons they learnt in government and clambering slowly back on to the ideological plain where they feel happiest.

Adam Ridley (1942– ), British economist, Conservative Party researcher, RIPA Report, Winter 1985, Jay p.305

When did you learn that politics is the art of the possible? Was it before or after you learned how to count?

Every party may have its ideology and supporters. But once elected to government, they have to serve the entire population. How they manage that determines their longevity in office.