One major reason why the sad state of affairs I've described has arisen is the collapse of the capacity of the UK political Parties to discharge their implicit role in a democracy.

The Labour Party has imploded into warring factions focused on internal ideological posturing and street theatre; not on filling the role of Official Opposition or Government.  The Liberal Democrats have failed to fill the void at the political centre as various factions within the Labour and the Conservative Parties fly off on all sorts of frolics of their own. The Scottish, Northern Irish and Welch MPs are consumed by the issues of their respective nations.

This leaves the Conservative Party untested and unopposed to govern whether competent or not and whether addressing the needs of the peoples of the UK or not.  Further, like Labour, the Conservative Party is riven by personal and ideological factionalism which is only partially papered over because the Party has a lock on Government.