Quote Originally Posted by Burney View Post
No. I accept that Tory theoreticians have convinced themselves of this, but that doesn't make it true. The tory vote is emphatically NOT predicated on securing the support of social liberals. Reams and reams of demographic data makes this abundantly clear.

And, while we're at it, let's define our terms. What is a social liberal? Someone who believes that people ought to be left alone to do largely as they wish as long as they aren't doing any harm? If so, I would qualify as such. However, what you're talking about is not social liberalism, but a sort of prescriptive, dogmatic insistence on meeting certain norms defined by left-wing identity politics.
But the sheer weight behind the prevailing narratives around gender, sexuality, race, etc etc, means the Tories simply have to be seen to be on board with some of this stuff.

And it's also untrue that there hasn't been any push back - the PM herself is happy to proudly talk up concepts of patriotism that are anathema to the left and she has several ministers who are pushing back against things like university safe spaces.

Agree entirely with your second paragraph. I was using the phrase social liberal as shorthand for precisely what you describe.