Rafael Naidu is a 15-year-old Conservative Party member and a student.
I’m just 15 years old. I can’t vote, nor have I ever stood for election or sat in Parliament. And yet politics occupies a rather surprising amount of my time. I follow current affairs, argue about politics with friends, and spend time thinking about the kind of country that I would like to spend my later years in.
That all makes me unusual, it has to be said. But it also puts me in an interesting position. I am old enough to have political opinions, but too young to have any power over how those opinions translate into policy. I can watch politicians talk about ‘young people’ while seeing, from the other side of the screen, how those messages actually reach teenagers like me.
And this is where I think the Conservative Party has a problem.
Conservatism is grounded in the concept of stewardship, which says that the role of government is to protect the environment, our institutions and our culture for the next generation. Surely this should resonate with my generation, then? Yet, the Conservative Party often struggles to communicate the significance of those core ideas to its potential future voters.
When I talk to my friends, the two parties I hear most about are Reform and the Greens, and the polls prove this to be the case. In 205, Merlin Strategy polled 13-17 year olds, and found that Reform won out on 33 per cent, whilst the Greens and the Tories were tied at 12 per cent.
There’s a clear reason for this: both the Greens and Reform appeal to the idealism that comes with youth. They present a compelling moral case, with clear, easily-understandable values and practical policies. For the Greens, that can mean social justice and environmental responsibility; for Reform, it is national sovereignty and anti-establishment rhetoric.
Their politics are radically different, but both understand that young people want to feel that what they support is morally justifiable. Traditional Conservatism too often reduces politics to managerialism, and forgets that teenagers seek an ethical framework to anchor themselves to.
The good news is that this problem can be addressed, as the issue is not with Conservatism itself. It is a problem with how it is communicated. Reform and the Greens have clear identities, recognisable messages, and an increasingly far-reaching online presence. They make politics accessible for young people.
So, what is the solution to such woes? How can the Conservatives connect with my generation? Well, firstly, the answer is not to emulate the other parties. The Conservatives do not need to become like Reform or the Greens, nor do we need to assume that teenagers want politics watered down or reduced to catchy, digestible slogans. I may be 15, but that does not make my friends and I incapable of engaging with serious ideas. If anything, being young makes us more conscious of the long term consequences of decisions: they impact our schools, our families and our futures.
One of the key things to think about is where the Conservatives present these values. At 15, I and others like me, are more likely to encounter a political argument on social media, than in a newspaper or party conference speech.
This isn’t because young people are incapable of engaging with politics beyond a one minute video; it’s just that this is where ideas reach us. Reform and the Greens understand this. Both present their messages through big personalities with simple arguments that are easy to discuss online. Conservatives should take that lesson seriously without simply copying them. If the party wants to appeal to people like me, who will soon be able to vote, it has to meet us where we encounter politics.
But boosting the party’s follower count is only half the battle. You can reach young people perfectly and still fail if there’s no substance in the messages themselves. None of my friends will become Conservative because of better TikTok videos or Instagram Reels. Communication is a carrier of ideas, but it is not a substitute for them.
Before I was born, David Cameron understood the party’s image problem. His attempt to “detoxify” the brand, from “hug a hoodie” to his emphasis on environmental issues, was intended to make the Conservatives more approachable. But perhaps there is a distinction here between creating conservatism with a human face and making traditional Conservative values more compelling.
The big question, then, is how we present conservative values: hard work, responsibility and patriotism, without returning to the image of the “nasty party”.
We young people are constantly told to ‘be ourselves’. We were raised around individual choice and self-expression, and Conservatives should not attack that.
Instead, think about what happens when everything becomes a matter of choice. What happens to communities, families, and of course the country? Maybe the appeal of conservatism shouldn’t be that it offers freedom to construct an identity, but that it tells us we belong to something that existed before us, and will continue after us. It offers stability in a world where nothing is fixed.
In addition, Conservatives must remember that teenagers don’t only ask “what policy do I support?”, we also ask, “what kind of person am I if I support this?” The Greens can frame social justice as a moral responsibility to those who are disadvantaged, whilst Reform can frame a tough line on immigration as a moral responsibility to one’s country. Perhaps the Conservatives can frame stewardship as a moral responsibility to those who come after you.
We aren’t simply “future voters.” At 15, I can’t vote, but I will live with the consequences of decisions made now. Today’s politicians are shaping our future, and that is precisely why stewardship should matter. If conservatism is about recognising that we inherit institutions, traditions and communities that we did not create, and have a responsibility to pass them on to those who come after us, then young people like me are not an afterthought.
I don’t pretend to speak for every 15-year-old, but I do think there are other young people like me who are listening, thinking seriously about politics and asking what is worth preserving. I’m 15. I can’t vote for the country I will inherit, but I can already ask what kind of country I want to pass on.
Rafael Naidu is a 15-year-old Conservative Party member and a student.
I’m just 15 years old. I can’t vote, nor have I ever stood for election or sat in Parliament. And yet politics occupies a rather surprising amount of my time. I follow current affairs, argue about politics with friends, and spend time thinking about the kind of country that I would like to spend my later years in.
That all makes me unusual, it has to be said. But it also puts me in an interesting position. I am old enough to have political opinions, but too young to have any power over how those opinions translate into policy. I can watch politicians talk about ‘young people’ while seeing, from the other side of the screen, how those messages actually reach teenagers like me.
And this is where I think the Conservative Party has a problem.
Conservatism is grounded in the concept of stewardship, which says that the role of government is to protect the environment, our institutions and our culture for the next generation. Surely this should resonate with my generation, then? Yet, the Conservative Party often struggles to communicate the significance of those core ideas to its potential future voters.
When I talk to my friends, the two parties I hear most about are Reform and the Greens, and the polls prove this to be the case. In 205, Merlin Strategy polled 13-17 year olds, and found that Reform won out on 33 per cent, whilst the Greens and the Tories were tied at 12 per cent.
There’s a clear reason for this: both the Greens and Reform appeal to the idealism that comes with youth. They present a compelling moral case, with clear, easily-understandable values and practical policies. For the Greens, that can mean social justice and environmental responsibility; for Reform, it is national sovereignty and anti-establishment rhetoric.
Their politics are radically different, but both understand that young people want to feel that what they support is morally justifiable. Traditional Conservatism too often reduces politics to managerialism, and forgets that teenagers seek an ethical framework to anchor themselves to.
The good news is that this problem can be addressed, as the issue is not with Conservatism itself. It is a problem with how it is communicated. Reform and the Greens have clear identities, recognisable messages, and an increasingly far-reaching online presence. They make politics accessible for young people.
So, what is the solution to such woes? How can the Conservatives connect with my generation? Well, firstly, the answer is not to emulate the other parties. The Conservatives do not need to become like Reform or the Greens, nor do we need to assume that teenagers want politics watered down or reduced to catchy, digestible slogans. I may be 15, but that does not make my friends and I incapable of engaging with serious ideas. If anything, being young makes us more conscious of the long term consequences of decisions: they impact our schools, our families and our futures.
One of the key things to think about is where the Conservatives present these values. At 15, I and others like me, are more likely to encounter a political argument on social media, than in a newspaper or party conference speech.
This isn’t because young people are incapable of engaging with politics beyond a one minute video; it’s just that this is where ideas reach us. Reform and the Greens understand this. Both present their messages through big personalities with simple arguments that are easy to discuss online. Conservatives should take that lesson seriously without simply copying them. If the party wants to appeal to people like me, who will soon be able to vote, it has to meet us where we encounter politics.
But boosting the party’s follower count is only half the battle. You can reach young people perfectly and still fail if there’s no substance in the messages themselves. None of my friends will become Conservative because of better TikTok videos or Instagram Reels. Communication is a carrier of ideas, but it is not a substitute for them.
Before I was born, David Cameron understood the party’s image problem. His attempt to “detoxify” the brand, from “hug a hoodie” to his emphasis on environmental issues, was intended to make the Conservatives more approachable. But perhaps there is a distinction here between creating conservatism with a human face and making traditional Conservative values more compelling.
The big question, then, is how we present conservative values: hard work, responsibility and patriotism, without returning to the image of the “nasty party”.
We young people are constantly told to ‘be ourselves’. We were raised around individual choice and self-expression, and Conservatives should not attack that.
Instead, think about what happens when everything becomes a matter of choice. What happens to communities, families, and of course the country? Maybe the appeal of conservatism shouldn’t be that it offers freedom to construct an identity, but that it tells us we belong to something that existed before us, and will continue after us. It offers stability in a world where nothing is fixed.
In addition, Conservatives must remember that teenagers don’t only ask “what policy do I support?”, we also ask, “what kind of person am I if I support this?” The Greens can frame social justice as a moral responsibility to those who are disadvantaged, whilst Reform can frame a tough line on immigration as a moral responsibility to one’s country. Perhaps the Conservatives can frame stewardship as a moral responsibility to those who come after you.
We aren’t simply “future voters.” At 15, I can’t vote, but I will live with the consequences of decisions made now. Today’s politicians are shaping our future, and that is precisely why stewardship should matter. If conservatism is about recognising that we inherit institutions, traditions and communities that we did not create, and have a responsibility to pass them on to those who come after us, then young people like me are not an afterthought.
I don’t pretend to speak for every 15-year-old, but I do think there are other young people like me who are listening, thinking seriously about politics and asking what is worth preserving. I’m 15. I can’t vote for the country I will inherit, but I can already ask what kind of country I want to pass on.