Boris Johnson and beyond: the revival of OneNation Conservatism?

The election of Boris Johnson with a substantial parliamentary majority in December 2019 featured the Conservative Party gaining a large number of previously safe Labour seats located inpoorer, post-industrial areas (the so-called “Red Wall”). This specific electoral context, together with the stated aim of “levelling up” and the increased role for the central state necessitated bythe Covid pandemic, created the opportunity for an ideological shift within the Conservative Party from Thatcherism to a revived form of One Nation Conservatism. However, the subsequent leadership contest of 2022 and Liz Truss’s disastrous attempt to revive economic liberalism has revealed the extent to which this was not achieved. The extent to which Johnson can be defined as a One Nation Conservative or be said to have left behind a One Nation legacy are evaluated in this article