There’s no future being Reform-lite: Conservatives must have the pragmatic answers the UK needs
3 min read
It is difficult not to feel sympathy for Kemi Badenoch. With the possible exception of Rachel Reeves, she has the hardest job in British politics – in some ways, a harder job than when William Hague took over as leader of the Conservative Party after an equally catastrophic electoral defeat in 1997.
Like Hague, Badenoch inherited a party whose reputation was well and truly trashed – on this occasion, by a combination of Partygate, Boris Johnson’s catastrophic loss of control of immigration, and Liz Truss’ equally catastrophic mini-budget. But unlike Hague, Badenoch faces the challenge of a populist party to the Conservatives’ right – this time, voters who fall out of love with Labour have got somewhere else to go.
She does have one thing in her favour, however: Keir Starmer is no Tony Blair. He said his government would be pro-business, but the first thing Rachel Reeves did was to hit businesses with a massive tax increase. He said it would be fiscally prudent, but it’s getting us into more and more debt. He said it would increase defence spending, but it is doing very little in this parliament and has no plan to pay for what he says it will do in the next. And he said it would stop people entering the country illegally, but so far the numbers are going up.
This country desperately needs a centre-right alternative that is pro-business and believes in rewarding hard work, improving our trading relationship with our nearest neighbours, and doing something to save us from the looming fiscal crisis; stands for the rule of law and so believes in being tough on crime while also being respectful of our institutions; will stop the boats while making the case for sustainable levels of high-skilled legal migration; and is focused on healing the polarisation of our society, not fanning it.
At times it feels like the party is trying to be a Reform tribute act.
Labour is doing some of these things, but not others. Reform UK is offering simplistic, and in some cases dangerous, solutions and is led by one of the people most responsible for the mess the country is currently in. If the Liberal Democrats were led by a Nick Clegg, or a David Laws, they might fill this gap but their current leader seems to prefer stunts to serious policies and most of their MPs are centre-left by instinct.
So, what about Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives? They show glimpses of what is required – for example, it was good last week to hear Badenoch criticise Nigel Farage for his dangerous anti-science views on the safety of paracetamol during pregnancy, and Mel Stride was a good pick as shadow chancellor. But at other times – on a closer trading relationship with the EU, net-zero, Lucy Connolly – it feels like the party is trying to be a Reform tribute act. There is no future down that road.
Voters – and politicians like Danny Kruger – who want that form of politics are going to go for the real thing in the form of Farage, not a pale imitation. The gap in the market in British politics is on the centre right.
If Badenoch wants to maximise her chances of saving the Conservative Party, she should position it as a moderate, pragmatic party that is economically competent; will stop the boats without demonising all migrants; cares about climate change but also about industrial jobs; and can be trusted with public services. It won’t be easy – the damage Truss did to the Conservatives’ greatest asset, their reputation for economic competence, was significant – but let’s hope she tries, because the country deserves better than a choice between Keir Starmer or Nigel Farage.
Lord Barwell was Conservative MP for Croydon Central from 2010 to 2017, before serving as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May
