The Jekyll and Hyde routine continues. The reactionary, regressive policies are red meat for the more unsavoury parts of the party—the “grassroots” as they like to call them. Which, I might add, I don’t entirely agree with the notion that those people are their ‘grassroots.’ They are extreme. They have little expertise. They are loud. They are so loud, in fact, that they run roughshod over their more civil peers. None of this means they need to be pandered to, or that they represent the ‘true core’ of the party.

All this considered, behind closed doors, the party panders to them and becomes as disagreeable as they are. When public facing, they adopt a softer and more tolerant tone—they want to seem even-handed and composed. We are then told that these two identities are the same, as if our eyes and ears have been lying to us.

What an embarrassing state of affairs for the more moderate members.