This isn’t about putting forward easy simplistic answers to complex problems because we know that rarely works and there’s plenty of others filling that space. It’s a serious centre right organisation making the case for growth and developing credible proposals.
Conservatives cannot expect to return to power unless they make peace with the lost Tory tribe that is Reform.
Any plan to fix the broken state is a time consuming project with few votes in it. But if Government is to do ‘less, but brilliantly’ it needs a parliamentary party fully on board with what that’ll take to fix it.
And the very difficult politics of doing so, illustrated by Johnson’s swipe at Cummings.
The real significance of Kruger’s defection is that it signals that the battle to be the principal party of the populist right is over. The Conservative Party must reconcile itself to this reality and reinvent itself as, once again, a party of the centre right.
Cummings and Gove have the satisfaction of knowing that Labour has accepted their main policy objective – academy trusts; is not ditching phonics; and seems unlikely to bring back the AS examination.
Real delivered success is actually best achieved through a multitude of individually unimpressive small shots rather than a single bullet. Although nobody wants to hear that and politicians don’t want to say that – they should. Conservatives should, because it’s true.
On example is that the UK planning system designed to frustrate house building need not be used solely for its intended purpose. It can, if not prevent, at least slow down the kind of building changes needed as part of the government’s policy of distributing illegal immigrants to hotels nationwide.
To break the cycle of waste, the Government must push for external audits of all government departments. Independent auditors, not internal bureaucrats, must be granted the authority to scrutinise spending decisions, flag waste, and hold officials accountable.
As lovely as my three years at ConservativeHome have been, I can’t say that I leave the Tory Party in a better state than I found it. If only you knew how bad things really are.
Free speech and DEI are not minor culture war skirmishes. They are fundamental battles over power. The party must stop treating woke as a political game, hoping to win quick points over gender definitions.
Unlike America, Canada, and Australia, with their federal constitutions, almost all the levers of power are there at the centre, ready and waiting for a prime minister with the strength to seize them.
Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry (sensitive, young) men?
Did the civil service stop attracting the best and brightest because Britain is no longer a great power, or did we stop being a great power because the talent intake dried up?