Robin Aitken MBE was a BBC reporter for 25 years.
There was a strong whiff of public penance emanating from the platform at the Tory Conference.
On day one Richard Fuller MP , the interim party chairman, told us he was ‘profoundly sorry’ for the election loss and promised that members were now going to be installed ‘at the heart of the conference’
His words were echoed by other MPs who frankly admitted they’d fouled-up and there were many apologies to hard-working grass-roots members who had been let-down. In future we were told, the members were going to be front and central in the party’s thinking; our views were to be valued, candidates would not be imposed on local associations, the future would be different.
As a rank and file delegate at the conference I thought this was all well and good because the responsibility for July’s catastrophe undeniably lies at the door of MPs.
Their incompetence, self-indulgent squabbling and personal shenanigans are what brought the roof of the temple down; we, the membership, were horrified spectators at a slow-motion train crash, unable to do anything to avert it. But, given that background, conference turned-out to be a much more positive experience than anyone might have expected.
It was my first party conference as an ordinary delegate; in the years when I was a BBC reporter I attended occasional conferences but this was completely different.
As a BBC journalist you go armoured with the Corporation’s credentials (which doesn’t necessarily make you popular) and that gives you some clout. As an ordinary joe with no privileges, no special access and no particular influence it is very different. Comparing the two experiences I have to say it’s much better being Mr Nobody: for one thing I didn’t have to pretend to the Corporation’s imaginary ‘impartiality’ (does any Tory still buy that lie?) and for another it’s been a long time since I had so many good conversations with well-balanced, normal people.
The hallmark of conservatism is its common sense.
Many others have remarked on how we were in surprisingly good spirits in a rain-sodden Birmingham.
I think that’s easy to explain: for Tories the run-up to the election was filled with foreboding but polling day came – and then we knew the worst. With that came catharsis; the disaster had happened so it was time to start again.
Added to that is the undeniable, unalloyed pleasure that schadenfreude brings. I had no high hopes of Starmer who has always seemed to me a costive individual with a scared look in his eye; but I never expected him to be so hopelessly inept as a politician.
His mis-steps since moving into No10 have been a joy to behold; the honeymoon lasted but a few days and already it seems the great British public are thinking about divorce. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
For all the feel-good factor that the conference engendered nothing can disguise the fact that we are out of office for another four years minimum. In that time Labour will have ample opportunity to inflict damage on our economy and our culture.
Behind the smiles, all the people I talked to in Birmingham squarely faced-up to this obvious truth; yes we can all start planning for next year’s locals but power at the national level is a long way away. But there was another common theme among the people I talked to which is that opposition at least gives us time to sort ourselves out – to re-discover what ‘conservatism’ really means. Which brings me to the leadership contest.
I arrived in Birmingham leaning towards one candidate but determined to use the conference to test out my preferences so I made a point of listening to as much as I could from all four. In one way I was pleasantly surprised; James Cleverly is a much more likeable individual than I had understood, Tom Tugendhat is the embodiment of decency, and Robert Jenrick is a polished performer but it seemed to me that Kemi Badenoch offered the most compelling case to be our leader. Why? Because she is the one who most clearly enunciates the case for going back to first principles and working out what we really stand for as Conservatives.
To me outlining a raft of policies four years out (at least) from the next General Election is a kind of madness. We do not need to do this, the challenges that will face us in 2029 are unknowable and – let’s be honest – no one’s listening to us right now anyway.
Far, far better to use this time for a debate about the meaning of conservatism which, I think, is what Kemi is offering. Added to that I think she is the stuff of nightmares for Starmer; I think she’d make mincemeat of him at PMQs .
If the leadership is sincere in its wish to bring the membership back – giving them a choice that includes her is the right outcome. Members do not merely want to be drawn into ‘the heart of the conference’, but also into ‘the heart of the party’. Now we – the poor bloody infantry – get the opportunity to vote for who we really want.
Our party’s ranks are already perilously thinned-out: with Badenoch getting her chance, and we our choice, I think an exodus of disgruntled members may have been avoided.
Good – because it was the very last thing we could afford.
Robin Aitken MBE was a BBC reporter for 25 years.
There was a strong whiff of public penance emanating from the platform at the Tory Conference.
On day one Richard Fuller MP , the interim party chairman, told us he was ‘profoundly sorry’ for the election loss and promised that members were now going to be installed ‘at the heart of the conference’
His words were echoed by other MPs who frankly admitted they’d fouled-up and there were many apologies to hard-working grass-roots members who had been let-down. In future we were told, the members were going to be front and central in the party’s thinking; our views were to be valued, candidates would not be imposed on local associations, the future would be different.
As a rank and file delegate at the conference I thought this was all well and good because the responsibility for July’s catastrophe undeniably lies at the door of MPs.
Their incompetence, self-indulgent squabbling and personal shenanigans are what brought the roof of the temple down; we, the membership, were horrified spectators at a slow-motion train crash, unable to do anything to avert it. But, given that background, conference turned-out to be a much more positive experience than anyone might have expected.
It was my first party conference as an ordinary delegate; in the years when I was a BBC reporter I attended occasional conferences but this was completely different.
As a BBC journalist you go armoured with the Corporation’s credentials (which doesn’t necessarily make you popular) and that gives you some clout. As an ordinary joe with no privileges, no special access and no particular influence it is very different. Comparing the two experiences I have to say it’s much better being Mr Nobody: for one thing I didn’t have to pretend to the Corporation’s imaginary ‘impartiality’ (does any Tory still buy that lie?) and for another it’s been a long time since I had so many good conversations with well-balanced, normal people.
The hallmark of conservatism is its common sense.
Many others have remarked on how we were in surprisingly good spirits in a rain-sodden Birmingham.
I think that’s easy to explain: for Tories the run-up to the election was filled with foreboding but polling day came – and then we knew the worst. With that came catharsis; the disaster had happened so it was time to start again.
Added to that is the undeniable, unalloyed pleasure that schadenfreude brings. I had no high hopes of Starmer who has always seemed to me a costive individual with a scared look in his eye; but I never expected him to be so hopelessly inept as a politician.
His mis-steps since moving into No10 have been a joy to behold; the honeymoon lasted but a few days and already it seems the great British public are thinking about divorce. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
For all the feel-good factor that the conference engendered nothing can disguise the fact that we are out of office for another four years minimum. In that time Labour will have ample opportunity to inflict damage on our economy and our culture.
Behind the smiles, all the people I talked to in Birmingham squarely faced-up to this obvious truth; yes we can all start planning for next year’s locals but power at the national level is a long way away. But there was another common theme among the people I talked to which is that opposition at least gives us time to sort ourselves out – to re-discover what ‘conservatism’ really means. Which brings me to the leadership contest.
I arrived in Birmingham leaning towards one candidate but determined to use the conference to test out my preferences so I made a point of listening to as much as I could from all four. In one way I was pleasantly surprised; James Cleverly is a much more likeable individual than I had understood, Tom Tugendhat is the embodiment of decency, and Robert Jenrick is a polished performer but it seemed to me that Kemi Badenoch offered the most compelling case to be our leader. Why? Because she is the one who most clearly enunciates the case for going back to first principles and working out what we really stand for as Conservatives.
To me outlining a raft of policies four years out (at least) from the next General Election is a kind of madness. We do not need to do this, the challenges that will face us in 2029 are unknowable and – let’s be honest – no one’s listening to us right now anyway.
Far, far better to use this time for a debate about the meaning of conservatism which, I think, is what Kemi is offering. Added to that I think she is the stuff of nightmares for Starmer; I think she’d make mincemeat of him at PMQs .
If the leadership is sincere in its wish to bring the membership back – giving them a choice that includes her is the right outcome. Members do not merely want to be drawn into ‘the heart of the conference’, but also into ‘the heart of the party’. Now we – the poor bloody infantry – get the opportunity to vote for who we really want.
Our party’s ranks are already perilously thinned-out: with Badenoch getting her chance, and we our choice, I think an exodus of disgruntled members may have been avoided.
Good – because it was the very last thing we could afford.