“West is British, and conservatism has definitely failed in Britain”
Good point but Brexit happened.
Politicians who aren’t conservative are failing, if they’re not actually succeeding in what they want to do.
Romney, for your US example, can’t be considered a conservative.
But the libertarians hate populism because of tariffs, immigration controls, and manufacturing protection.
And the neocons hate populism because no war profiteering.
And the few Jewish conservatives hate populism because they believe all populist movements devolve into antisemitism.
And the GOPe and Conservatism, Inc. hate populism because it opposes crony capitalism.
And the social conservatives are so-so on populism because the focus is on economic and good government policy and populist heroes tend to be rough around the collar.
So populist conservatives need to reach out to private sector labor unions and left-leaning white collar workers whose jobs are threatened by H-1b, etc. in order to create a large enough coalition to elect candidates and win elections. We need a message that also appeals to a new generation of Reagan/Trump Democrats and Independents.