Conservatism protects power where it exists now. You fundamentally can’t do that and be honest about it and maintain some form legitimacy in an ostensibly democratic system.

If you say “we love billionaires because they give us fat cheques, also we’re cutting your services because the billionaires don’t like taxes” you don’t get votes. So you have to drop one of those three things, and of course “be honest about it” is the easiest one to go without.