How Will Kemi Badenoch Rebuild CCHQ?

Conservatives disagree on many things, but most are united by their dislike for CCHQ.

'One Nation' moderates, social conservatives and libertarians say it is bankrupt, neglected and out of touch with local associations, and agree that major reform should be a priority for new leader Badenoch if the Tory party is to return to its election-winning ways.

Badenoch told staff during the leadership campaign that reforming the organisation was one of her urgent missions — but it needed more work than she once thought.

“Renewing and re-energising CCHQ is a top priority for Kemi because we have to return to being an election-winning machine,” one shadow cabinet minister told PoliticsHome.

It came as little surprise to those on planet Tory that each candidate who ran for the leadership – albeit to varying extents – promised to reform CCHQ so it is ‘fit for purpose’.

While the vast majority of Conservatives fought the 4 July election expecting to lose, with opinion polls consistently putting the party far behind Keir Starmer's Labour, many complained that their already unenviable task was made harder by CCHQ shortcomings.

Activists who worked in its London HQ (the party also has a Leeds office) complained it was “disorganised” from day one, full of antiquated technology that staff could not use.

Some Conservative candidates refused to use campaign literature produced by CCHQ and leaned into local material instead.

There were also complaints that data provided by CCHQ to help candidates and activists know what doors to knock on during the General Election campaign was out of date.

Meanwhile, there was palpable fury among some members at the local association level who complained about having candidates foisted onto them by the central party machine.

There is also concern about CCHQ's financial health following the Tories' crushing defeat in July. Party sources say it costs around £1.5m a month to keep it afloat. It was recently described as a "ghost ship" after a handful of senior staff took voluntary redundancy.  

Former Tory officials complain that while CCHQ has young and ambitious staff, the machine is slow and rigid. “There’s a mentality of ‘computer says no,’” one told PoliticsHome.

There is also a belief that CCHQ being a breeding ground for government special advisers resulted in the organisation regularly having the life sucked out of it.

So what can Badenoch do about it?

One idea being discussed is making CCHQ and LOTO (the Leader of the Opposition's office) work closely together, which some Tories say hasn't happened enough in recent years. “They just feel like a separate institution at the moment, rather than part of the same team,” one party source told PoliticsHome.

Rachel Maclean, a former minister and MP, who was appointed Badenoch's director of strategy, advocates a more joined-up approach. During the leadership campaign, she promised a more “collective process” when it came to policy under Badenoch's leadership.

Badenoch has also appointed loyalists such as her best friend in politics Lee Rowley, her chief of staff, who was an MP between 2017-2024 and was described by one supporter as having a brain “the size of a planet”.

Some Tory figures have suggested CCHQ be less reliant on large donations, and focus attention on contributions from people earning six figures outside the south of England. The thinking behind this strategy is that it will increase the number of people involved with the Conservatives and make them more likely to vote and campaign for them.

“Reform has 100,000 active members. We have 100,000 members and some of them may not be with us," said one Conservative party source.

Some shadow cabinet ministers are concerned that Reform could even poach some of CCHQ's younger staff, warning that the threat of Nigel Farage to the Tories isn't just electoral. 

But senior Conservatives say that such wholesale reform of CCHQ will not happen overnight and is likely to take two to four years.

Badenoch is looking to successful conservative movements abroad for inspiration, recently meeting Republican Vice President-elect JD Vance.

There is an acceptance, however, that working for the Conservatives is now a less attractive prospect now that the party is in opposition and, in Maclean's own words, unable to "even stop Labour doing anything" in the House of Commons.

“I could tell you half a dozen people now that could do a great job rebuilding the Tory party,” said one Tory source. “None of them will touch it, because opposition is a terrible job.”

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