Tories are facing troubles largely of their own making

AS I CAME of age in the 1980s, no one doubted what the Tories stood for.

- Mark Field

Individual responsibility, meritocracy, a small state and careful husbandry of public finances.

The dividing lines with our political opponents were crystal clear. This is what inspired me to serve as a local councillor and then for the first two decades of the present century as an MP.

But after three defeats at the hands of Tony Blair, we lost our confidence. Unlike New Labour, who jettisoned much socialist baggage in order to get back into power, our gods did not fail. In the fullness of time, Gordon Brown's profligate spending (along with reckless behaviour by some in the financial markets) brought the economy to its knees.

Yet when David Cameron the self-styled "heir to Blair" made it to No.10, we accepted much of what had come before. Indeed, Cameron was never more comfortable than working in a cosy centrist coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

In our 14 years at the helm, we failed to repeal the Equalities Act, which Labour had rushed in just before losing office in 2010, and even the controversial "A-List" of Parliamentary candidates was about imposing compliant careerists under the guise of diversity. Small wonder many voters began to think there was little to choose from between the political parties.