Christopher Alley is a county and district councillor in Hertfordshire, and was from 2021 to 2025 an agent and campaign manager for the Party.
It is something we have sadly become accustomed to, with several councillors and current and former MPs publicly leaving the party to join the rising star of Reform. It’s hard to judge whether it’s more ambition than principle, but being in politics for over a decade has taught me that it’s probably more the former. Either way, they left, and those of us who remain, earnestly continue the job of rebuilding.
However, Robert Jenrick’s betrayal does seem different. He was, for many, seen as a future leader of the Party. He was the first to voice members’ concerns as to why we were booted out of Government and his energetic social media presence quickly made him the most prominent and effective member of the Shadow Cabinet. This showed on the doorstep too. Jenrick was commonly mentioned and often positively by residents, the only other member of the current Conservative team so prominent on the doorstep was Kemi Badeenoch, and I must admit, not always as positively. Whether you disagreed with or even didn’t like him, it was clear that the Conservative Party was stronger for having him.
Many sympathise with the frustrations expressed in Jenrick’s speech, even if they don’t publicly. It is clear we lost the 2024 election and continue to wallow in the polls because the Conservative Party failed the British public. We failed to deliver on reducing immigration, and despite our rhetoric, we arrived at an indefensible position of having, by the summer of 2023, overseen migration of 1.3 million people into Britain and by June 2024, got it down to only 1.15 million.
This is just one of the many failures of policy and governance alongside the illegal immigration crisis, the rising cost of living, stagnant or falling productivity, housing, the woeful state of our military, the price of energy, failure to overturn Blairite reforms, and the list continues.
There was a need to draw a line under the failure of the last Conservative Government and give clear water to a reformed Conservative Party under Badenoch. However, the glacial pace of policy development and lack of success to cut through to the public when we do have positions to fight on make us look to be playing second fiddle to Reform. Whether it’s reality or not, it’s what is perceived by many – and perception in politics is everything.
The speech Jenrick gave was a powerful one, when ignoring the politics of it. There is little to disagree with him on, as it’s clear the Conservative Party does need to stop making excuses about why we lost. Swallow the hard pill of failure, admit the Party did mislead the public and our members, fail the country and delivered it up to the untender mercies of Starmer’s Labour Party.
These mistakes must be wholly owned by the Conservative and hard lessons learned, so that we can truly regain the trust of the British people and hopefully govern with a vision built upon by British Conservativism and integrity.
However, Jenrick is incorrect to believe that the Conservative Party is finished. We are far from it. We have a studious leader in Kemi Badenoch who is slowly piloting the ship around. We have a cohort of hard-working MPs and an army of Councillors and activists who work diligently to deliver local election victories upon which parliamentary success can be won. I am confident it will be achieved.
Reform’s rise has started to taper off and is beset with unprofessionalism and infighting. Jenrick’s defection will only fuel this, as it is hard for many Reform supporters to ignore the growing accusation that Reform is becoming just Tory 2.0. This internal dissidence is hampered by the anti-conservative visceral attacks propagated and led by Farage. Badenoch’s decisive action against Jenrick’s defection did take the political winds out of their sails. Jenrick will be seen as just one of many ambitious politicians whose own integrity will forever be in question.
The elections on the 7th of May will not be pretty. Regaining the confidence of the people takes time, and Badenoch and her team’s task is yet unfinished; the ship is turning, but not yet out of dangerous waters.
Jenrick may be right that Britain is broken and that the Conservatives must take ownership of their role in its breaking, but this great country is not done. With further immeasurable damage being done by Labour, the answer is not Reform driven by Farage’s ego and sycophants, whose approach to the complex problems facing us is too often simplistic and ill-thought out. The only hope Britain has is a reformed Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch, who is determined to right the wrongs and govern this great country through the prism of Conservative principles, with integrity and accountability.
There is still a long, hard road ahead. We will inevitably suffer losses on the way, but we are on course and must not be shaken in our mission to save Britain, and it does need saving from Labour. We must be steadfast in this duty and not be discouraged by ambitious cowards jumping ship.
Christopher Alley is a county and district councillor in Hertfordshire, and was from 2021 to 2025 an agent and campaign manager for the Party.
It is something we have sadly become accustomed to, with several councillors and current and former MPs publicly leaving the party to join the rising star of Reform. It’s hard to judge whether it’s more ambition than principle, but being in politics for over a decade has taught me that it’s probably more the former. Either way, they left, and those of us who remain, earnestly continue the job of rebuilding.
However, Robert Jenrick’s betrayal does seem different. He was, for many, seen as a future leader of the Party. He was the first to voice members’ concerns as to why we were booted out of Government and his energetic social media presence quickly made him the most prominent and effective member of the Shadow Cabinet. This showed on the doorstep too. Jenrick was commonly mentioned and often positively by residents, the only other member of the current Conservative team so prominent on the doorstep was Kemi Badeenoch, and I must admit, not always as positively. Whether you disagreed with or even didn’t like him, it was clear that the Conservative Party was stronger for having him.
Many sympathise with the frustrations expressed in Jenrick’s speech, even if they don’t publicly. It is clear we lost the 2024 election and continue to wallow in the polls because the Conservative Party failed the British public. We failed to deliver on reducing immigration, and despite our rhetoric, we arrived at an indefensible position of having, by the summer of 2023, overseen migration of 1.3 million people into Britain and by June 2024, got it down to only 1.15 million.
This is just one of the many failures of policy and governance alongside the illegal immigration crisis, the rising cost of living, stagnant or falling productivity, housing, the woeful state of our military, the price of energy, failure to overturn Blairite reforms, and the list continues.
There was a need to draw a line under the failure of the last Conservative Government and give clear water to a reformed Conservative Party under Badenoch. However, the glacial pace of policy development and lack of success to cut through to the public when we do have positions to fight on make us look to be playing second fiddle to Reform. Whether it’s reality or not, it’s what is perceived by many – and perception in politics is everything.
The speech Jenrick gave was a powerful one, when ignoring the politics of it. There is little to disagree with him on, as it’s clear the Conservative Party does need to stop making excuses about why we lost. Swallow the hard pill of failure, admit the Party did mislead the public and our members, fail the country and delivered it up to the untender mercies of Starmer’s Labour Party.
These mistakes must be wholly owned by the Conservative and hard lessons learned, so that we can truly regain the trust of the British people and hopefully govern with a vision built upon by British Conservativism and integrity.
However, Jenrick is incorrect to believe that the Conservative Party is finished. We are far from it. We have a studious leader in Kemi Badenoch who is slowly piloting the ship around. We have a cohort of hard-working MPs and an army of Councillors and activists who work diligently to deliver local election victories upon which parliamentary success can be won. I am confident it will be achieved.
Reform’s rise has started to taper off and is beset with unprofessionalism and infighting. Jenrick’s defection will only fuel this, as it is hard for many Reform supporters to ignore the growing accusation that Reform is becoming just Tory 2.0. This internal dissidence is hampered by the anti-conservative visceral attacks propagated and led by Farage. Badenoch’s decisive action against Jenrick’s defection did take the political winds out of their sails. Jenrick will be seen as just one of many ambitious politicians whose own integrity will forever be in question.
The elections on the 7th of May will not be pretty. Regaining the confidence of the people takes time, and Badenoch and her team’s task is yet unfinished; the ship is turning, but not yet out of dangerous waters.
Jenrick may be right that Britain is broken and that the Conservatives must take ownership of their role in its breaking, but this great country is not done. With further immeasurable damage being done by Labour, the answer is not Reform driven by Farage’s ego and sycophants, whose approach to the complex problems facing us is too often simplistic and ill-thought out. The only hope Britain has is a reformed Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch, who is determined to right the wrongs and govern this great country through the prism of Conservative principles, with integrity and accountability.
There is still a long, hard road ahead. We will inevitably suffer losses on the way, but we are on course and must not be shaken in our mission to save Britain, and it does need saving from Labour. We must be steadfast in this duty and not be discouraged by ambitious cowards jumping ship.