A reckless Tory party is resorting to pantomime authoritarianism | Daniel Trilling theguardian.com

The hard-right rhetoric is an imitation of Thatcher’s populism – but it has the potential to be even more vicious, says Daniel Trilling.

The rightwingers who now dominate the Conservative party see enemies everywhere they look. In parliament, “collaborators” with the European Union, who will force Britain to “surrender”. Behind them, shadowy financial backers such as George Soros, singled out by Jacob Rees-Mogg as “remoaner funder-in-chief”. In the universities and the media, the promoters of “cultural Marxism”, an alien ideology that must be rooted out, according to Suella Braverman. And above all, an unaccountable liberal elite that stands in the way of the hopes and aspirations of the British people.