Let’s see real debate, not synthetic outrage, at the Tory conference

Blower cartoon
Blower cartoon

This week’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham was expected to be the launch platform for an election campaign to take place next month or in November. Instead, because of Rishi Sunak’s almost unfathomable decision to go to the country in July, it is an inquest into the worst defeat suffered by the Tories in 200 years.

With just 121 MPs, fewer councillors following local election defeats and a continuing decline in membership, the party has a hollowed-out feel. These few days in the West Midlands are an opportunity for reflection on what went wrong but more importantly for a serious debate about where to go next.

Such is the volatility of the electorate that Sir Keir Starmer’s 160-plus-seat majority could disappear as quickly as the 80-seat cushion secured by Boris Johnson in 2019. The Tories must have a credible programme for government they can present to the electorate in four or five years’ time.

The four remaining leadership candidates must grapple with the issues that actually matter for the future of the country – the policies needed to make the UK a more entrepreneurial country, to tackle worklessness, to bring down levels of immigration and to preserve British values.

The Tories cannot rely on Labour making a mess of government, even if the signs are already there. They need a sense of direction and a set of policies that will stop voters weary of the shortcomings of yet another mainstream party switching to Reform, the Lib Dems or other alternatives. The Tories may be much diminished but they remain the official Opposition and need to act like it.

And what the candidates must avoid is engaging in synthetic outrage and petty squabbles over perfectly reasonable questions. Kemi Badenoch, discussing maternity leave, raised concerns about how excessive regulation can be counterproductive and hurt the very people it is seeking to protect. The shadow housing secretary may be right or wrong on this, but it is something it is perfectly fair to debate and for which she should not be traduced by her rivals.

These next few days will see the candidates put through their paces by party members. It is to be hoped that the stage-managed corporatism of recent conferences will be replaced by a proper, civilised clash of ideas and the cut and thrust of debate.

It may well have the appearance of a wake but this is the most important Conservative conference in a generation.