The Tories are running scared, but we should all fear what they may become | Polly Toynbee

The prospect of defeat has liberated the party to lurch further to the right. Shame on the centrists who encourage this rabble

I want to scare the shit out of you," Frank Luntz, a focus-grouper to the US right, proclaimed to the Tory party audience. He hardly needed to. You know the average age of the Labour voter? 38-40. The average age of the Tory voter? Deceased." Nervous laughs. At every whither the future" event, speakers quote the YouGov poll showing only 1% of 18-24s back their party. For under-50s, it's barely better. The very word Conservative" is poison and young cohorts are staying with Labour as they age.

Tory afflictions will fill Labour with glee this week. So many fractions of factions and so many contenders jostling for a bald man's comb, amid wails of the wiser who know it's almost all over. Like the ancient mariner, they pluck the sleeve of any passing journo to spill their tales of woe, no holding back.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist