I HAVE to say I couldn’t really get worked up a couple of weeks ago when Nicola Sturgeon said she detested the Tories. There were some who tried to make it a thing: they said she’d gone too far and that her language was dangerous. But asked if she regretted what she said, the First Minister was clear. No.

And it’s funny because, in a way, I know how she feels (or at least I think I’m beginning to). As people who occasionally read my stuff will know, my instincts and reactions have always been conservative and occasionally Conservative. When I was 14, I had a regular order with my newsagent for The Daily Telegraph. Yes, I would give my teenage self a slap as well.

To be fair, in the years that followed, it pretty much remained the same way, particularly under Thatcher, Major and Cameron. Occasionally, I’d be tempted away – I even voted for Sturgeon once – and, if it helps you to like me, I always wrestle about who to vote for. Sometimes, in the booth, I look down at the Hands of Orlac voting Tory and wonder why. Sometimes.

The other obvious problem is it’s become harder in recent months and years to sustain the instinctual feeling that the Tories are usually the most sensible option economically (under Liz Truss, it became impossible). The grim illogic of Brexit (which economically literate Thatcherites should hate by the way) also had its effect. In fact, it was Brexit that made me, after 30 years or more, stop buying The Daily Telegraph altogether. I just couldn’t stomach it anymore, not even for the sake of the Matt cartoon.

Another big factor in my changing opinions, if that’s what this is, has been the quality of recent Tory ministers and prime ministers. I was, am, and always will be an acolyte of Margaret Thatcher, because she was hard-working, bright, principled and, at least in her early years, solidly sensible. She would never have behaved like Johnson or made the decisions that Truss did, and Truss’s conscious efforts to channel Thatcher only made the differences between them more obvious.

It could all have been different when Rishi Sunak took over (couldn’t it?) but sadly the opening chapter of his premiership has only made the problem worse. Suella Braverman in particular is a minister of staggeringly low quality: prone to mistakes, prone to right-wing cliché and shallow thinking and prone to being not very good. I would email her to tell her so (if I didn’t already know that she’s not to be trusted on the whole email thing).

Ms Braverman also goes to the heart of how I’ve been feeling about this particular Tory era. We cannot know the backgrounds, experiences and motivations of everyone who is crossing the Channel to reach the UK – even the charities campaigning for migrants say that – but we can at least do several things that every responsible politician should do: keep the issue in perspective, do what you can to manage it efficiently, and, finally, show a bit of compassion for God’s sake.

It seems to me that Ms Braverman has failed in all three parts of this test. First, she hasn’t kept things in perspective: Britain receives a relatively small number of asylum applications compared to Germany, France, Turkey and many other countries and those who do seek to come to the UK often do so because they have relatives here. And yet instead of telling us this, Ms Braverman says there's an “invasion”.

She has also flunked the second part of the test by failing to manage the situation efficiently. The Manston migrant centre is designed as a place where people should be detained for no more than 24 hours and yet some are being held for much longer because of an apparent lack of accommodation. And according to Charlie Taylor, the chief inspector of prisons, the conditions are so poor people are being forced to sleep on the floor.

Which brings us to the last part of the test: compassion. I understand that there are concerns about immigration. I get that nations need to manage their borders. But surely the process could be done with care, concern and humility? Instead we have nasty and inflammatory language followed by others trying to excuse it. What do I think of it? I suppose part of me worries my reaction will only add to the negativity. But I actually can’t think of any other phrase. I detest it.

Read more by Mark Smith:

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