News Analysis
By all accounts, Pierre Poilievre is an anomaly when it comes to Conservative leaders: He still holds his post despite having lost an election.
There’s a long-standing trend of Conservatives turning on their leader. It even has its own diagnosis, dubbed the “Tory Syndrome” by political scientist George Perlin in his 1979 book of the same name.
All party leaders face the challenge that what may endear them to their party base may also cost them support among the broader electorate if they embrace those positions too openly and the opposition portrays them as being out of step with the prevailing zeitgeist. This creates a delicate balancing act for leaders: staying true to their ideological base so party grassroots don’t remove them in leadership reviews, while avoiding alienating the general population so they can win elections….