Pagefield Consultant Patrick Reynolds provides his thoughts on the 2024 Conservative Party conference as the leader is selected next month.
For a Party expected to be commiserating in the wake of a resounding electoral defeat and relentless, avoidable scandals, this year’s Conservative Party conference was in fact characterised by optimistic overtones – at least for those on the ground.
From the outside in, UK media showcased leadership candidates jostling over their renewed visions for the Party, with Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly straying closer to the political centre compared to Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick who preferred to push ahead with familiar lines around immigration and the culture wars.
As the selection process rumbles on, leaving Jenrick and Badenoch for a final showdown on 2 November, the Party’s remaining elected representatives have been given breathing room to provide critical reflections on the Party’s future without worry of toeing a party line.
At conference, it was refreshing to witness debates on housing where MPs – albeit newly elected – admitted the Party’s sectarian approach had not just cost it the younger vote, but older age groups affected by housebuilding stagnation.
Amidst expectations Labour will increase housebuilding targets in Tory constituencies to drive a definitive wedge between the two on the issue, there were discussions as to how the Party could proportionally embrace ‘Yimbyism’ in and around London and across the grey belt in order to meet this challenge.
These sentiments were reflected in equal measure across events on education, healthcare and finance, as more forward-thinking conversations started to emerge on building a robust, pragmatic response to imminent policy issues.
Whatever direction the new leadership of the party takes, there is a consensus on the need to reinstate an adherence to conservative principles and create a tangible offer to the electorate as to what they can expect from a future conservative government.
This will inevitably require grappling with thorny issues, including how to scrutinise and assert the Party’s position on nanny state interventions proposed by Labour across alcohol, tobacco and processed foods. Such topics will provide a testbed for the next iteration of the Party, to show how a return to core principles can help the Party’s communications, reputation and unity fall back into place.
Good government is only delivered with effective opposition and the return of the Conservative’s ‘broad church’ of viewpoints at this year’s conference is something that will hopefully flourish over the next parliamentary session. It will be a uniquely uphill battle for the Tories however as they reckon with reduced influence on select committees and an emboldened Liberal Democrat party who could conceivably dominate the centre-ground in Parliament.
Senior Tory MPs have been quick to jump on Labour’s rocky start as an auspice of their return to power. While pre-emptive, one is reminded of the Conservative’s potential as one of the most successful political parties in democratic history to make waves again.
