Britain’s once-dominant Conservative Party battling to avoid extinction

Britain’s once-dominant Conservative Party battling to avoid extinction World Oct 8, 2025 2:06 PM EDT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Britain’s Conservatives used to boast they were the world’s most successful political party. Not anymore.

The center-right party that governed the U.K. for more than 60 of the last 100 years before being ousted in 2024 is embracing Donald Trump -style policies, including mass deportations and government budget-slashing, as it battles to remain a contender for power.

The Tories are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Nigel Farage’s hard-right party has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.

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