Conservatives in Britain could, if they were smart, learn a lesson from Fidesz's brand of economic Gaullism, yet their commitment to market forces and the financial backing the Conservative party received from the City, means that they're likely to stay wedded to the current unpopular and discredited model. That's even when Thatcherite figures from the 80s and 90s such as Sir John Major and Peter Lilley are calling for changes.
The hysterical reaction to Miliband's extremely modest plans for a price freeze demonstrates just how out on a limb the UK is. In the genuinely democratic postwar era it would have been unthinkable that our utilities would one day be privately owned (and for a large part owned by foreign companies), and would then hit households and businesses with above-inflation rises year after year, and that the UK government would simply sit back and do nothing. But that's where we've got to.”