Tories must hold their nerve, stay in the game and get ready to build back next year

(Graham Bridgeman-Clarke / Alamy)

Greg Hands

@GregHands

The immediate future will settle the question of whether we are 1922 or 1981: is Reform the long-term replacement for the Conservatives, as Labour was to the Liberals in 1922? Or is Reform set to be a more temporary phenomenon like the SDP was in challenging Labour in 1981?

But I would advise my former colleagues to listen to Sir Lynton Crosby’s famous stricture in 2015, that we are “participants, not commentators”. 

If I were still party chairman, I would choose four top priorities for action.

First, I would make sure that we focus on what is in our power, not what we wish would be. Make sure that the party organisation is fit for the next decade, which means, after the inevitable post-election shakeout, rebuilding our ability to fight elections. 

Here, there is good news for my former colleagues: Conservative donations so far in 2025 (£6.2m) have exceeded those for Labour (£4.9m), Reform (£2.8m) and the Lib Dems (£2.3m). 

The Conservatives will have stronger machines on the ground in the key constituencies than Reform, which will suffer, as Nigel Farage parties always have, from entryism and amateurism.

Secondly, I would hold together. One of the biggest reasons the Conservatives lost in 2024 was party division. “Five prime ministers” was the regular cry (I was almost the only MP to have served as a departmental minister under all five of them, and even my patience was tried).

Thirdly, I would make sure that we have the process in place to review our policies. That is fundamentally different to having a firm set of policies today to meet today’s political issues. We see many of our front bench team responding well on the issues of the day. But, behind that, there needs to be a proper policy review process. This we did under David Cameron in 2005 to 2008. I served on the economic review commission, as well as chairing the joint unit with Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). It was both useful and fun.

The period before the next general election is like a long-haul flight

Fourthly, the general election is three or even four years away. But there are plenty of elections before then, which allow the party to rebuild its electoral base. More than 4,000 council seats are up for grabs next May, including 1,817 in London alone. The Scottish parliament and Welsh Senedd have all-out elections. Given the last time they were contested was not a great year for us, there is the prospect of gains. 

I would make London the main focus in England: 2022 was a nadir in the party’s fortunes in the capital and presaged our near wipeout in the capital in 2024 (including for me). We need to rediscover the magic formula the party had from 2005 to 2006 when, under Michael Howard and David Cameron, London was our best-performing region. Then, we had a strong offering of low tax, environmental concern (“Vote blue, go green”) and a set of strong municipal leaders. 

Reform is less of a threat in most of London (indeed, first they have to find 1,817 candidates); Sadiq Khan is wildly unpopular and Labour borough councils have been piling on council tax and other fees.

Kemi Badenoch is focused on getting the CCHQ operation under Kevin Hollinrake and Mark McInnes battle-ready for 2026 and beyond. There is a welcome feeling that unity must prevail after all the divisions of 2016 to 2024; a comprehensive policy review is in place; and there is real focus in the task in hand facing us on 7 May 2026.

The period before the next general election is like a long-haul flight. We have only just taken off and there is a long journey ahead of us, full of turbulence, but the Conservative Party, like an experienced aircrew, needs to hold its nerve. 

Greg Hands is a former Conservative party chairman who served as an MP between 2005 and 2024

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