Our CCHQ election audit: the rusty machine, part two. How and why the ground campaign failed.
Activists were asked to trust in a targeting analysis that proved to be based on flawed data and assumptions that were overturned by the manifesto.
Our CCHQ election audit: the rusty machine, part one. Why the operation that succeeded in 2015 failed in 2017.
One senior official put it to me starkly: “We should ask a question of the team – are you ready to fight another election in two years? If the answer is yes, then it’s a lie.”
42 per cent and no majority 7) Leaving the EU offers an opportunity to reduce energy bills
Rather than price caps and nationalisations, there is a chance to help consumers with tax cuts and regulatory reform.
42 per cent and no majority 6) Use leaving the EU to deliver lower food prices
Doing so would be a concrete and welcome improvement to the lives of millions of people.
42 per cent and no majority 5) Five steps towards a post-Brexit immigration policy
It is unlikely that the mass of such voters in those crucial northern and midlands marginals would welcome a permissive approach.
42 per cent and no majority 4) We’ve said it before. We say it again. A key to victory is higher home ownership.
The lack of a stake in the system is pushing the political profile of the youngest tranche of workers towards that of students.
42 per cent and no majority 3) May should send for winners, having not won herself – and call in the Vote Leave team.
On the anniversary of the EU referendum, the party leadership needs an audit of what went wrong this month, and a plan for the Tory future in this Parliament.
42 per cent and no majority 2) The Party must make the case for conservatism to a new generation of voters. It hasn’t for too long.
As time passes, a decreasing slice of the electorate has any experience at all of old-fashioned socialism. And the argument that it doesn’t work cuts little ice.
42 per cent and no majority. 1) What does the Party do next?
Lord Ashcroft’s research suggests where the party performed poorly or badly on June 8: among women, younger voters and Remain supporters.
May decisions for autumn. 5) Will family policy simply be dumped? (Along with Cameron’s Life Chances Strategy?)
There is little evidence in May’s key speeches to date that her interest and imagination are gripped by the consequences of breakup and poor parenting.
May decisions for autumn. 4) What’s the “proper industrial policy” look like?
It aims to develop the state’s strategic role without lapsing into picking winners. Can this be done?
May decisions for autumn. 3) She wants more homes, but how to deliver them?
Just how radical will Javid prove to be?
May decisions for autumn. 2) Hinkley Point and Heathrow expansion. What’s the policy?
The way British politics and planning mix tends to push infrastructure decisions into the long grass.
May decisions for autumn. 1) What’s to be done about the deficit?
The Prime Minister and Hammond must choose between risks.
Ideas for Party Reform 4) Reforming candidate selection
The processs in the safer seats is becoming like speed dating for a marriage that may last 20 years or more.