Listening to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair this morning discussing the recent Labour defeat in the General Election. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50829352
From the article:
"The choice for Labour is to renew itself as the serious, progressive, non-Conservative competitor for power in British politics; or retreat from such an ambition, in which case over time it will be replaced."
The emphasis on the word "replaced" has been added by me. However after listening to his speech the tone seemed to suggest that he considered it possible for the Labour party to cease to exist, unless radical changes were made to restore confidence given the scale of their defeat.
I understand that in this sense, the word "replaced" could also mean that the party's leadership would be replaced by new leadership with a completely different strategy from Jeremy Corbyn and those in the party at the time of the General Election.
However this got me wondering, given the Labour party has existed since the 19th century, is it possible for the party to cease to exist? What conditions and processes would be required in order for that to happen? Given that British General Elections are usually a two horse race between the Conservative and Labour party, would this result in a situation where there was essentially only 1 viable party for leadership of the country?