The UK's abandoned conservative voters

The Guardian is a left-wing British newspaper. One of its columnists, John Harris, feels sorry for rank-and-file British conservatives. Why? Because they don't have anyone to represent them.

In the recent Eastleigh byelection, a lot of conservatives could no longer stomach voting for the so-called Conservative Party, led by the decidedly non-conservative David Cameron, and opted instead to vote for the UKIP. The rise in the UKIP vote has led some commentators to talk about the disenchantment of many voters with the political elite of all the mainstream parties.

Which prompted the left-winger John Harris to write:

... this is essentially a story about conservatism, with a small and a large "c", and the fact that in England, no mainstream party truly understands or gives convincing voice to it.

...Whether they warrant a big or a small "c", most conservatives want to be led by one of their own – and in any decently functioning democracy, that is surely the least they deserve.