For the Tories to deserve to return to office, they are going to have to make a compelling and brave economic argument.
If Kemi Badenoch pledges to reverse Rachel Reeves’ tax changes, Labour will ask how she’ll pay for it – and there is always the risk that militants will overplay their hand and lose public support.
A centre-right political party should have something to say about the perils of identity politics, but this will not determine how large numbers of people will vote at the next general election.
Remarkably, the risk of Trump to our geopolitical and economic security is only the third strongest argument against him
For some of us, there have been three big judgment calls in the last decade which provide a good test. Where did you stand on Brexit, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss? On all three, Cleverly got it wrong.
The economic debate in this country has drifted in a more social democrat direction in recent years and, if the centre right is to revive, it needs to start winning at least some of those arguments.
The public may cheer many interventions that substitute moral judgments for the amoral operation of the market – but will punish the Government for the lack of growth that would result.
Where Tony Blair and David Cameron sought explicit mandates for radical change, the Labour leader won as a unifying figure before taking his party where it needed to go.
Somewhere, there must be a party that makes the case for a market economy, fiscal conservatism, personal responsibility, and a cautious scepticism about the ability of the state to solve every problem
Just because pursuing NIMBYism will be the path of least resistance does not mean that it is the path that should be taken. We have just seen where it ends.
Establishing an alternative vehicle for centre-right politics will be immensely difficult; trying to re-establish a sensible Tory Party may be the least worst option. But my vote would still be in doubt.
In Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, they got their people. In Brexit and Rwanda, they got their policies. Efforts to pin it all on the Wets, the Remainers, and the ‘Blob’ will be in vain.
It is true that the typical beneficiary of the graduate visa does not turn out to be Lee Kuan Yew, but they still make a net contribution to the economy.
These mayoralty elections might not tell us much about the result of the next general election, but they do give us a clue about where the Conservatives should go afterwards.
Her history is confused but some may still be persuaded by her argument that the judiciary is too left-wing and Conservative ministers should be able to appoint more ideologically sympathetic candidates.