Conservative Conference showed this is no longer a party I recognise
5 min read
What has the scrapping of HS2, changes to A-levels and a smoking crackdown got to do with one another? No, me neither…
For a party conference that was briefed as a vision setting exercise, the annual gathering was missing something quite important: a vision.
This was a party conference full of contradictions that showed the Prime Minister as both a pragmatist and a Thatcherite, yet has left me baffled as to what the direction is supposed to be?
Police in the audience ready to pounce on any dissent highlights all that is wrong with this Conservative Party
They say this is a ‘bold new approach’, but when the dust settles how do ambitions to level up square with scrapping one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe? How can a clamp down on smoking align with delayed plans to tackle obesity? And no, no-one has a clue about what clamping down on woke science means…
The Prime Minister sounded somewhat less like a school prefect at the lectern, but he spoke to the hall – not the country. The Conservative Party now face the same problem Jeremy Corbyn had in the dark years for Labour when he was leader. This was a conference talking to the ever-dwindling base – large chunks of the Cabinet dragging the party to the doldrums of electoral irrelevance, and revelling in it.
Upon arrival, I was greeted by what I can only assume was Jacob Rees Mogg’s vintage Rolls Royce on the steps of the Midland hotel. One of the more surreal moments I’ve witnessed at a party conference.
As I walked into the conference hall, I bumped into a former colleague elected to Parliament in 2015 too. They approached me truly excited about the polls narrowing between Labour and Conservatives, slashed to a dizzying low of 10 per cent.
The atmosphere was surreal. I’ve never seen a more chipper bunch of activists and members – many buoyant, even. Champagne flowing in the Midland bar, there was an almost ‘party’ atmosphere – like “wine-time Fridays” in Downing Street.
Despite the polls widening again as conference went on, it seemed as though members were myopic dancing on the electoral cliff edge.
Every major party knows that you cannot win large majorities from the periphery. You must hold the centre ground. But it seems the party just doesn’t care anymore – members seem happy about back slapping over views that are completely irrelevant to most of the public. There was barely even an acknowledgment of the cost of living by the Prime Minister. We heard more speeches about tackling ‘wokeness’ than inflation. Is it any wonder that the Conservatives see Labour consistently on average 17 points ahead?
The ejection of one of the longest serving and senior Conservatives in London over a quiet comment during the Home Secretary’s speech serves as one of the most embarrassing episodes in the history of Conservative conference. A victory for free speech, it wasn’t.
I’ve sneezed during speeches in that very hall louder than Andrew Boff spoke. The seating of plain clothed police in the audience ready to pounce on any dissent highlights all that is wrong with this Conservative Party. Andrew was unequivocally right – he should have been able to express those views, but instead of debate Andrew got cancelled.
Whoever made the decision for the Prime Minister to turn up in Manchester (by car) to announce that HS2 would be cancelled on the last day of conference should be fired. One cabinet minister told me it feels like “death by a thousand cuts”.
Ripping up HS2 may have gone down well with those in the hall, but the public are not buying it. They see the cancellation as a serious breach of trust: “What will stop the government cancelling these new plans in a decade’s time?” said one man standing on a train platform in Yorkshire.
HS2 was more than just an infrastructure project, it was a totem project representative of the government’s commitment to the socio-economic uplift of the North of England. David Cameron is right, companies will look at this and think the government is not serious about levelling up. Will the Bury bypass really encourage global tech companies to move their headquarters from Kings Cross to Manchester or Leeds?
But the problem runs deeper. The total lack of vision for the future is causing the government to firefight. If the Prime Minister’s political pin up is Margaret Thatcher, then articulate a vision for aspiration. Set out the vision for the country and explain policies that will help us get there! Instead the Prime Minister is letting policy set his ideology which is never going to wash with the public.
Sadly, this was a missed opportunity. When the dust settles, the only thing the public will remember one year out from a general election is that this was the conference that cancelled HS2.
Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer will not be talking to the hall next week – instead expect a vision for the country aimed directly at voters.
Ben Howlett, former Conservative MP and chief executive of policy institute Curia
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