Lockdown is making the Tory party restive

IF A COMMITTEE were to design a policy with the aim of offending the Conservative Party, it might come up with something resembling Britain’s lockdown. In its bones the party believes that law-abiding Britons should be free to go for an evening walk without explaining themselves to a police constable, or downloading a surveillance app on their mobiles. Public health is a matter for citizens’ good judgment, not bossy officials. The state should not, as a rule, negotiate with trade unions to pay wage subsidies, or hand grants to stricken businesses. “All the wrong people are cheering,” says a Tory MP, noting the Labour Party’s support for the lockdown.

The party’s most loyal supporters are feeling the pain. Small businesses’ revenues are collapsing. Healthy over-70s with busy social calendars are classified as “clinically vulnerable”, and may face a longer period of social distancing. Golf courses and garden centres are shut.

On May 4th MPs got the chance to air their grievances in a House of Commons debate called to approve lockdown legislation retrospectively. Marcus Fysh, dialling in on Zoom, a video-conferencing app, argued that the government must not set a precedent that health trumps liberty, which he insisted was “fundamental to our very souls”. Sir Charles Walker warned of mass unemployment that would “unleash a...