Johnny Leavesley is a lawyer, author, commentator on current affairs. He has served as Chairman of the Midlands Industrial Council, Midlands Treasurer of the Conservative Party, and as High Sheriff of Staffordshire. He is currently a Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire.
Like many of you, at the last election I was exhausted by disappointment in the Conservatives.
The Sunak-Hunt-Gove administration was infuriating in its managerial caution and failed to convince anyone that it had the answers or energy to solve the nation’s problems.
Even though I voted for them, I was angry. Even though I have been a lifelong party member, I believed I would never help them again. Having blown 14 years in power by failing to be recognisably Conservative, the party leadership looked like a centrist conspiracy to maintain the status quo, run by actors who did not have any significant ability.
Cynical and tired of them, I was done.
A friend, however, persuaded me to meet Kemi Badenoch. Having met many politicians over the years one becomes jaded to the cliches of the class, and I was not expecting to be overwhelmed. But I was. She has charisma, good judgment, practical ability and the bravery necessary to be a great leader.
It has been a cautious start. She will not rush into policy commitments or the noise of pseudo media events. After reviewing the landscape, she has put a team in place and started the unglamorous work of rebuilding the Conservative Party and its plausibility. If the party is to survive and prosper, work that would take years must be done in months.
During the recent past I have met several leading figures in Reform: Zia Yusuf, Ben Habib, Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and Nigel the Main Man. All of them are likeable but there is something tangible missing from the offering.
The most impressive was Habib and he resigned from the party last month, citing differences with the dominating leader of that movement. Reform is attempting to convert itself from a protest party into a serious offering, but even if foreign money splashes into their account from the world’s richest man, it will not change the reality that mere enthusiasm as a protest offering is no substitute for the principled and practical approach Kemi Badenoch offers.
Reform’s actual policies are uncosted fantasies.
Its acclaimed new members are a sugar rush for publicity and, I suspect, will be just as swiftly lost as Kemi articulates her cause and rises more prominently into public consciousness. Reform might carve out a position on the centre-right mirroring the centre-left Liberals – both political panaceas for the disappointed and financially irresponsible with it.
The truth is that neither will form the next government. Farage has as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as the Liberal leader. As this Labour government continues, the public will come to realise that the Conservatives, distinctively led by Kemi Badenoch, are the only realistic chance this country has of reversing its economic and cultural decline.
Increasingly, our politicians do not directly exercise power. Quangos have proliferated, work from home civil servants are a productivity problem and ideologically driven campaign groups collect public money and use it to coerce our institutions into adopting their agendas. The political class has lost its will and abrogated responsibility.
To reverse this will take an immense projection of intellect and confidence. Reform talks big but, as they are naïve amateurs, the mandarins and quango-crats would certainly defeat them. Kemi Badenoch is the only politician I have met who has the possibility of beating the blob, of, in short, energising national renewal.
I find that I have been persuaded to re-join the party’s treasurers, the small group of volunteers tasked with helping to raise money for the party. Having done it before I know that there are periods when fundraising is more difficult than at other times.
One can veer between being hugely popular to being shunned. The crucial persuasive factor when talking to sceptical business people and weary party activists is that of having a good product to sell, a leader from whom one can feel a certain self-respect in backing. Kemi Badenoch is that. Supporting her feels a positive choice for the future rather than, as with many of her predecessors, the least worst option. I am only doing this because I believe in her leadership – her character, backstory and yearning for a better future.
You might not be surprised that I believe most people who can afford it should donate to a political party.
Doing so is a public good, obviating the need for taxpayers’ pounds. If there were to be state handouts of any size, they would be unearned insurance against failure and electoral unpopularity.
Democracy is enhanced when it is transparently accountable and donations are a raw form of approval, directly related to prospects and plausibility. You may or may not believe the framework of political donating needs to improve that transparency, and you might not currently be conducive to donating to the Conservatives, but moderate donations from many sources are undoubtedly healthier for democracy than trade union largesse or the capriciously given pocket money of a foreign billionaire.
I shall be working on that and visiting businesses near you.
Johnny Leavesley is a lawyer, author, commentator on current affairs. He has served as Chairman of the Midlands Industrial Council, Midlands Treasurer of the Conservative Party, and as High Sheriff of Staffordshire. He is currently a Deputy Lieutenant of Staffordshire.
Like many of you, at the last election I was exhausted by disappointment in the Conservatives.
The Sunak-Hunt-Gove administration was infuriating in its managerial caution and failed to convince anyone that it had the answers or energy to solve the nation’s problems.
Even though I voted for them, I was angry. Even though I have been a lifelong party member, I believed I would never help them again. Having blown 14 years in power by failing to be recognisably Conservative, the party leadership looked like a centrist conspiracy to maintain the status quo, run by actors who did not have any significant ability.
Cynical and tired of them, I was done.
A friend, however, persuaded me to meet Kemi Badenoch. Having met many politicians over the years one becomes jaded to the cliches of the class, and I was not expecting to be overwhelmed. But I was. She has charisma, good judgment, practical ability and the bravery necessary to be a great leader.
It has been a cautious start. She will not rush into policy commitments or the noise of pseudo media events. After reviewing the landscape, she has put a team in place and started the unglamorous work of rebuilding the Conservative Party and its plausibility. If the party is to survive and prosper, work that would take years must be done in months.
During the recent past I have met several leading figures in Reform: Zia Yusuf, Ben Habib, Lee Anderson, Richard Tice and Nigel the Main Man. All of them are likeable but there is something tangible missing from the offering.
The most impressive was Habib and he resigned from the party last month, citing differences with the dominating leader of that movement. Reform is attempting to convert itself from a protest party into a serious offering, but even if foreign money splashes into their account from the world’s richest man, it will not change the reality that mere enthusiasm as a protest offering is no substitute for the principled and practical approach Kemi Badenoch offers.
Reform’s actual policies are uncosted fantasies.
Its acclaimed new members are a sugar rush for publicity and, I suspect, will be just as swiftly lost as Kemi articulates her cause and rises more prominently into public consciousness. Reform might carve out a position on the centre-right mirroring the centre-left Liberals – both political panaceas for the disappointed and financially irresponsible with it.
The truth is that neither will form the next government. Farage has as much chance of becoming Prime Minister as the Liberal leader. As this Labour government continues, the public will come to realise that the Conservatives, distinctively led by Kemi Badenoch, are the only realistic chance this country has of reversing its economic and cultural decline.
Increasingly, our politicians do not directly exercise power. Quangos have proliferated, work from home civil servants are a productivity problem and ideologically driven campaign groups collect public money and use it to coerce our institutions into adopting their agendas. The political class has lost its will and abrogated responsibility.
To reverse this will take an immense projection of intellect and confidence. Reform talks big but, as they are naïve amateurs, the mandarins and quango-crats would certainly defeat them. Kemi Badenoch is the only politician I have met who has the possibility of beating the blob, of, in short, energising national renewal.
I find that I have been persuaded to re-join the party’s treasurers, the small group of volunteers tasked with helping to raise money for the party. Having done it before I know that there are periods when fundraising is more difficult than at other times.
One can veer between being hugely popular to being shunned. The crucial persuasive factor when talking to sceptical business people and weary party activists is that of having a good product to sell, a leader from whom one can feel a certain self-respect in backing. Kemi Badenoch is that. Supporting her feels a positive choice for the future rather than, as with many of her predecessors, the least worst option. I am only doing this because I believe in her leadership – her character, backstory and yearning for a better future.
You might not be surprised that I believe most people who can afford it should donate to a political party.
Doing so is a public good, obviating the need for taxpayers’ pounds. If there were to be state handouts of any size, they would be unearned insurance against failure and electoral unpopularity.
Democracy is enhanced when it is transparently accountable and donations are a raw form of approval, directly related to prospects and plausibility. You may or may not believe the framework of political donating needs to improve that transparency, and you might not currently be conducive to donating to the Conservatives, but moderate donations from many sources are undoubtedly healthier for democracy than trade union largesse or the capriciously given pocket money of a foreign billionaire.
I shall be working on that and visiting businesses near you.