James Cowling is Managing Director of Next Gen Tories.
Keir Starmer’s imminent exit from Downing Street will mark the fifth Prime Minister to leave office in as many years. Last weekend’s headlines were awash with commentators asking if Britain is ungovernable. Are our challenges simply too great for any occupant of No10 to tackle?
Anyone thinking Labour’s turmoil will automatically benefit the Conservatives is desperately naive. To a despondent electorate that has been pulling the change lever since 2016, this further turbulence could convince them that the whole system is rotten. I’d bet the country will pull the change lever once more in 2029, and at present, Reform owns the ‘change’ brand.
To anyone with an ounce of acumen, it’s overwhelmingly clear that we do need wholesale change. The post-Blair settlement has failed in much the same way the post-war settlement ground to a halt. For years the policy solutions have been obvious to many on the centre-right, but we’ve ducked them, opening the door to easy-answer populists on the left and right. Conservatives have to step up.
I set out in a recent report – Conservative Revival – how the Party might approach a wider plan for our nation’s challenges, but there’s a simpler hurdle that comes first. To beat Reform, Conservatives must be willing and able to deliver change.
Here, Kemi is the answer. She outpolls the Party because she is different. Punchy, authoritative, and clear-minded. At every canvassing session people will unprompted tell me how much they like her. In particular, those who declare as “Reform for now” will follow with “but I do like Kemi though”. Yet the love hasn’t yet reached the Party proper; that is a much larger hurdle.
If we’re to convince people the Party itself has changed it must be reflected in every single aspect of our approach. Now unassailable in her leadership, Kemi must be ruthless. She must start with the team around her. Promoting fresh faces to Shadow Ministerial ranks would have two benefits – newer MPs have far less baggage and suffer less from ‘governmentitis’. Having not been associated with the previous government, newer intakes have fewer qualms with breaking bad habits. Generally speaking, they are clearer-eyed about the scale of policy change needed to reverse our national decline.
In the era of multiparty politics where a few polling points either way could be the difference between government and being routed, we must have our best talent at the top. We skipped a generation previously by bringing in Cameron-Osborne before 2010.
Katie Lam is the perfect example of a 2024 intake MP who should be catapulted into the shadow cabinet. Many from newer intakes including Jack Rankin, Blake Stephenson, and Rebecca Paul have been standout performers who could be placed in key roles, among others. Articulate and competent, Claire Coutinho is just the type of fresher Shadow Cabinet minister that should be pushed up a rung or two. Against a new Conservative team, Reform will be the ones looking stale.
On policy Kemi has been right to take time, it’s produced sound policies like the new deal for young people and the abolition of stamp duty land tax. Both have the dual merit of fixing fundamental economic challenges and appealing to aspirational young voters we need to win over. Yet between now and the publication of a full policy manifesto there’s room for a vision that sets out exactly how ambitious the Conservatives plan to be. Setting out an appetite for wide ranging economic reforms whilst still taking time to think through the details would help to demonstrate appetite for delivery.
“We’re thinking through the details” must become “we’re thinking through the details of reforms the scale of which hasn’t been seen since the 1980s”.
Highlighting that our taxation system disincentivises work is an example. We can point to the double taxation of NICs and crazy marginal tax rate hikes at £50k and £100k salaries without yet being specific about proposed changes. A general theory of change on housing themed around urban density, nimbler regulation and beautiful design would provide at least a worldview. Doing this across key policy areas would help to provide some narrative about the direction the party is going in.
In the same way MPs were ordered to say “long term economic plan” in the Cameron era, MPs should be told to say on every single media round “We understand the major changes this country needs, and are the only party both willing and capable of doing so”.
The local election results saw some progress, and I can’t help but notice that in areas with younger leaders taking a fresher approach out performed – like Wandsworth and Harlow.
As the government slips into turmoil, now is the time to do this. A sharp reshuffle, an outlining of core thematic changes that a Conservative government will pursue, and a consistent change narrative throughout all communications. Bundled together, Kemi can present a renewed Conservative Party. Change you can trust versus chaotic change with Reform.
Now is the time. To cut through this change has to be decisive. Kemi, be ruthless.
James Cowling is Managing Director of Next Gen Tories.
Keir Starmer’s imminent exit from Downing Street will mark the fifth Prime Minister to leave office in as many years. Last weekend’s headlines were awash with commentators asking if Britain is ungovernable. Are our challenges simply too great for any occupant of No10 to tackle?
Anyone thinking Labour’s turmoil will automatically benefit the Conservatives is desperately naive. To a despondent electorate that has been pulling the change lever since 2016, this further turbulence could convince them that the whole system is rotten. I’d bet the country will pull the change lever once more in 2029, and at present, Reform owns the ‘change’ brand.
To anyone with an ounce of acumen, it’s overwhelmingly clear that we do need wholesale change. The post-Blair settlement has failed in much the same way the post-war settlement ground to a halt. For years the policy solutions have been obvious to many on the centre-right, but we’ve ducked them, opening the door to easy-answer populists on the left and right. Conservatives have to step up.
I set out in a recent report – Conservative Revival – how the Party might approach a wider plan for our nation’s challenges, but there’s a simpler hurdle that comes first. To beat Reform, Conservatives must be willing and able to deliver change.
Here, Kemi is the answer. She outpolls the Party because she is different. Punchy, authoritative, and clear-minded. At every canvassing session people will unprompted tell me how much they like her. In particular, those who declare as “Reform for now” will follow with “but I do like Kemi though”. Yet the love hasn’t yet reached the Party proper; that is a much larger hurdle.
If we’re to convince people the Party itself has changed it must be reflected in every single aspect of our approach. Now unassailable in her leadership, Kemi must be ruthless. She must start with the team around her. Promoting fresh faces to Shadow Ministerial ranks would have two benefits – newer MPs have far less baggage and suffer less from ‘governmentitis’. Having not been associated with the previous government, newer intakes have fewer qualms with breaking bad habits. Generally speaking, they are clearer-eyed about the scale of policy change needed to reverse our national decline.
In the era of multiparty politics where a few polling points either way could be the difference between government and being routed, we must have our best talent at the top. We skipped a generation previously by bringing in Cameron-Osborne before 2010.
Katie Lam is the perfect example of a 2024 intake MP who should be catapulted into the shadow cabinet. Many from newer intakes including Jack Rankin, Blake Stephenson, and Rebecca Paul have been standout performers who could be placed in key roles, among others. Articulate and competent, Claire Coutinho is just the type of fresher Shadow Cabinet minister that should be pushed up a rung or two. Against a new Conservative team, Reform will be the ones looking stale.
On policy Kemi has been right to take time, it’s produced sound policies like the new deal for young people and the abolition of stamp duty land tax. Both have the dual merit of fixing fundamental economic challenges and appealing to aspirational young voters we need to win over. Yet between now and the publication of a full policy manifesto there’s room for a vision that sets out exactly how ambitious the Conservatives plan to be. Setting out an appetite for wide ranging economic reforms whilst still taking time to think through the details would help to demonstrate appetite for delivery.
“We’re thinking through the details” must become “we’re thinking through the details of reforms the scale of which hasn’t been seen since the 1980s”.
Highlighting that our taxation system disincentivises work is an example. We can point to the double taxation of NICs and crazy marginal tax rate hikes at £50k and £100k salaries without yet being specific about proposed changes. A general theory of change on housing themed around urban density, nimbler regulation and beautiful design would provide at least a worldview. Doing this across key policy areas would help to provide some narrative about the direction the party is going in.
In the same way MPs were ordered to say “long term economic plan” in the Cameron era, MPs should be told to say on every single media round “We understand the major changes this country needs, and are the only party both willing and capable of doing so”.
The local election results saw some progress, and I can’t help but notice that in areas with younger leaders taking a fresher approach out performed – like Wandsworth and Harlow.
As the government slips into turmoil, now is the time to do this. A sharp reshuffle, an outlining of core thematic changes that a Conservative government will pursue, and a consistent change narrative throughout all communications. Bundled together, Kemi can present a renewed Conservative Party. Change you can trust versus chaotic change with Reform.
Now is the time. To cut through this change has to be decisive. Kemi, be ruthless.