The effect of the train strikes on attendance, the trauma of recent years, and the change in the nature of the Tory Conference itself leave the question hanging.
Only four per cent of leave voters have swallowed hardcore Remainers’ line that we were all lied to and that we are need a vote right now to go back in.
There was, and remains, a durable coalition behind a Tory Party that stands unabashedly as the champion of working people of every class.
It’s hard to say this was a Autumn Statement for ordinary working-class voters though – the voters who gave the Party its massive 2019 majority
The proportion of crimes resulting in a charge or summons has fallen by two thirds, from 16 per cent in 2015 to 5.6 per cent today. A quarter of people in England live in areas where the police are in special measures.
Levelling-up can only work if the Prime Minister takes it so seriously they’re prepared to see most policy areas – or at least a good number of them – through the prism of it.
Another Conservative leader could be doing far better than the Prime Minister is.
Though it is early days, events in Ukraine may have reduced the public’s blame for the government for a decline in living standards.
There are few institutions that do more to bolster the civic pride of many towns and cities than the local club.
Within the party, policies of the free market feel old school – and the language associated with it even more so.
The more radical his plans are, the more resistance there will be. But one can’t serve up a municipal omelette without breaking eggs.
Starmer could show he understands the priorities of working class voters by spending more on universities and backing an English Parliament.
Some good things, a few bad ones, some absences – and an opportunity missed not so much to level up Britain as to level with voters.
By uniting behind Johnson’s plan, and replicating the approach of these two mayors, the the environment can become a winning issue for the party.
Time will tell, but my impression is the way the announcement was made – and, crucially, reported – means it’ll have a marginally negative impact overall.