The Conservative and Unionist Party of the United Kingdom has experienced a prolonged period of crisis and transformation, from pro-austerity technocrats under David Cameron to nationalist populists under Johnson. Current PM Rishi Sunak struggles to hold the different factions together amid the demographic and political fracturing of the UK. Can the Tory party reinvent itself once again, or is it in terminal decline? Can the Party still rely on media support or does the rise of digital media and a more volatile political-communicative landscape undermine their ability to set the media agenda?

Speakers

Phil Burton-Cartledge, lecturer in Sociology at University of Derby and author of Falling Down: The Conservative Party and the Decline of Tory Britain

Ruth Garland, Lecturer and Convenor, BA Promotional Media at Goldsmiths, University of London, and author of Government Communications and the Crisis of Trust: From Political Spin to Post-truth