Squabbling Tories look out of touch

This week’s conference showed the party’s growing fear of Jeremy Corbyn. Cris Sholto Heaton reports.

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May: running short of ideas
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"The age-old cliches about the Tories come easy: the natural party of government'; an appetite for power'; a ruthless talent for reinvention'", says Robert Shrimsley in the Financial Times. None of those terms seemed appropriate as the Conservative Party gathered for its annual conference in Birmingham this week. Instead, its MPs are "fighting like a natural party of opposition", even though many of them are all too aware of the existential threat that the party faces while it remains "convulsed by the European neurosis that has destroyed their past four prime ministers".

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.