THE humiliation of Ruth Davidson marked the point of metamorphosis. When Tory grassroots members put the Scottish Conservative leader bottom in a popularity poll it was a crystallising moment, which showed that the party had left behind any semblance of political normality and descended into a force of chaos and anarchy.

Ms Davidson, although anathema to many Scots voters, represented a Conservatism that could be dealt with – it was relatively reasonable, a normal part of the political landscape. However, Ms Davidson has now fallen nearly 30 points in Tory eyes. The UK party has turned its back on a woman once touted as First Minister, even Prime Minister, and saviour of the Conservative Party. Today, Ms Davidson and her form of Conservatism are dead in the water – ancient history in an era of political warp drive.

Tories are no longer ‘Conservative’ – that’s what snuffed out Ruth Davidson’s star. The party no longer stands for the principles of post-war Toryism – fiscal caution, pro-business, law and order. Whatever creature now wears the clothes of the Conservative Party, it is revolutionary in nature and it feeds on chaos and anarchy. The blue rinse brigade have become headbangers on acid.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon reveals 'pain and anguish' of Alex Salmond split 

It’s not merely that the party which once bent over backwards for business now says b******s to business, it’s that the party is pursuing policies of destruction in every direction. The UK Treasury needs £2.1billion to protect against a no-deal Brexit. This funding, officials say, “will accelerate preparations at the border, support business readiness, and ensure the supply of critical medicines”. That’s the civil service saying prepare for chaos. Companies collapsing. Anarchy at the border. Drugs like insulin unavailable.

The Treasury put out that warning on July 31. A few days later the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that a no-deal Brexit would result in an instant shock to the economy. Prices for petrol and food would rise. The pound would fall. Incomes would drop. Brexiteers like the Dickensian Iain Duncan Smith label Mr Carney an architect of Project Fear.

Yet sensitive government documents show Britain faces chaos in schools, consumer panic, increased risk of serious and organised crime, policing stretched to the limit, threats to law and order, deteriorating security in Northern Ireland, a flood of UK nationals returning from the EU, volatility of currency and financial markets, food shortages – the danger to both individuals and national security grows.

In this new Tory world of lies, anarchy, disinformation and chaos, we’ve gone through the looking glass - abetted by an increasingly deranged right-wing English media. Black is white and up is down. When the Tory radicals talk of sunlit uplands, they really mean Stygian depths. A new world of trade deals means being a vassal of America. Free from EU bureaucracy means workers’ rights buried six foot under.

Boris Johnson will spend £100million on an advertising campaign for a no-deal Brexit. In a world where breaking from the EU was meant to see free money rain down on the nation, Mr Johnson now spaffs – as he would put it – taxpayer cash, hawking his Poundland ideology like soap powder. This, amid homelessness, drug deaths, and endemic poverty. Meanwhile, human cyphers like Liz Truss, Secretary of State for International Trade, who’s talked up the delusion of self-sufficient autarky in the UK, giggle over the effects of austerity on ordinary people.

Brexit is the Moby Dick of the Tory Party. Like Captain Ahab and his great white whale, it has warped the mind of Conservatism, and it will ultimately drag the party under, destroying it.

Only the disaster capitalists will benefit from Brexit – those who thrive on chaos and anarchy, who can move in amid the rubble and make gold from the ruins. Folk like Jacob Rees-Mogg. The firm he helped set up, Somerset Capital Management, established investment funds in Ireland, although, of course, that “has nothing to do with Brexit”. The company issued a warning over Brexit causing “uncertainty”. Mr Rees-Mogg has reportedly made up to £7million from the company he departed following his appointment to government. Mr Rees-Mogg’s greatest asset, like Mr Johnson, is that to the average voter he appears a joke – he’s anything but, and we laugh at our own expense.

READ MORE: Majority now want Scottish independence, says 'phenomenal' new poll 

The deadly truth about populist insurgencies such as the new revolutionary Tory Party is that they are never for the people but for the elites at the head of the movement. In that there’s some hope, as therein lie the seeds of their own destruction.

There are other lifelines of hope to clutch to, though. When a political party turns to policy by chaos, then time’s up. We’re seeing the death shudders of the Tories. It’s demise is inevitable. Three graves are being dug, however – not just one for the Tories.

One grave will have a headstone for the UK. As polls show, the madness of the Tories has now put support for independence in the majority in Scotland.

The hardest grave to dig, but the most necessary, is for capitalism in its current form. When the Tories bring the roof crashing in, and the period of reconstruction begins, it will be obvious to even the most blind that economics must benefit all, not just the super-rich.

Scotland feels somewhat like a rock to cling to amid the chaos. To a degree, we remain inoculated against the worst excesses of the Tory revolutionaries, simply through the barrier of devolution.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Alex Salmond charges will not damage case for independence 

However, in the era of Tory chaos, even that defence isn’t safe. The new Scottish Secretary Alister Jack is coming for Scotland’s money. He wants Westminster to have more say on how money to replace EU funding after Brexit is spent in Scotland. This is a man so deluded he claims Brexit will be good for Scotland.

In a time of chaos, defences need built, not reduced. The Scottish government, therefore, must slap down Mr Jack, and slap him down hard. Don’t give the chaos merchants an inch. We need more of a quarantine zone between Scotland and Westminster, not less.

Mr Jack wants any projects paid for by the money branded with a union flag. The Shakespearean irony is that Mr Jack and his government of anarchy are paving the way for the elimination of the Union Jack from Scottish life forever.

Neil Mackay is Scotland’s Columnist of the Year