Could this be the end of the Tories?

Even before last week, the party's prospects were grim. Nowsome believe it faces a wipeout that would reshape the UK political landscape

- Toby Helm and Daniel Boffey

Partly in preparation for the worst, but also as a way of finding hope for the longer term, a book that has previously attracted little attention in the UK has suddenly become popular bedtime reading among British Conservative politicians.

Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics by Bob Plamondon charts the fortunes of Canada's centre-right Progressive Conservative party at the 1993 general election, when it crashed from holding a Commons majority to losing all but two seats.

Many dark years in the wilderness followed, before a merger and name change allowed it to claw itself back and eventually regain power in 2006, in one of the more remarkable political renaissances of recent times.

Even before Rishi Sunak's disastrous blunder last Thursday, when he flew home early from the D-day commemorations with veterans and world leaders, potential parallels with the Canadian experience were already being drawn.

Could the Tories in Britain be all but wiped out in a similar way, Conservatives are now asking themselves. And if so, what are the chances of a previously annihilated party rising again from the ashes? The UK Conservative party seems to be spinning ever faster into a death spiral, while Labour shores up its poll lead and poses as a government in waiting.