The next Tory leader must tack Right – and Left

Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick
Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick

The Tory leadership election campaign is finally reaching its conclusion. At times it has reminded me of nothing so much as one of those school cross-country runs I remember dimly from my childhood. Waiting at the sports pavilion for our turn to go, we would watch the younger cohorts gradually disappear from view to meander through the Nottingham suburbs.

Then – a long pause. Interest and attention would wander. The teachers would go and have a cup of tea. Finally, after an unfeasibly long delay, the front runners would reappear in the distance, limping, tired, still competing. By then the few remaining spectators would have long lost interest.

So too now, the last two runners are coming down to the wire. But, despite their best efforts, most party members won’t have seen either candidate. The brief glimpse vouchsafed at the conference is already overtaken by events. Indeed, I’ve been struck speaking to Conservatives how little many know about either candidate, how much they fear that things won’t get better, and how suspicious many are that whoever wins won’t be given much time before MPs start agitating again for another change.

Dear reader, if you should happen to be a Conservative Party member and feel such disaffection or lack of information, I urge you to focus now. This is the critical moment. Your vote will have a huge influence on our political future. Bad as things are, they can always get worse. The party needs to take the right decision. We need the leader who has the best chance not just of delivering genuinely conservative policies but of uniting the party around them; and who can most convincingly sell those policies to voters at large as the best policies for the country.

As you will know, I think that person is Robert Jenrick. Let me explain why.

The first reason is that, from the start, Robert has had the more fully formed conservative policy agenda. Where Kemi has spoken of the need to develop a plan, Robert already has one.

Crucially, he recognises that regaining credibility on immigration is vital for getting a hearing on anything else. That’s why he’s put so much stress on leaving the ECHR: there’s no room for “maybe” or “let’s think about it” on this. But it goes beyond that: he’s been clear on the need for a smaller state, reduced taxes, lower energy costs by changing the net-zero legislative framework, and a reformed planning system to build more homes where we actually need them. Yes, we can debate the means: but we must be clear on the goals.

He’s also said unambiguously that when we get the chance we must complete the job on Brexit so we recover sovereignty in its entirety, and then push much harder to get the benefits. That is why the distinguished Brexiteer Bill Cash, who has criticised Kemi Badenoch’s “woefully inadequate” performance on repealing EU law, has endorsed Robert.

Policy clarity matters. If we choose a leader who isn’t leading on important issues – and Kemi has been explicit about this, saying “I am not going to be demanding that my shadow cabinet sign up to policies right at the beginning” – then we will surely just have another round of divisive policy argument. We need a leader who has won with a clear mandate for specific conservative policies which he can require people to get behind. That is what I believe Robert offers.

Robert also has a clear political strategy. It’s that we win the next election by doing two things simultaneously. First, stand for mainstream, tried and tested, properly conservative policies that can bring back those who went to Reform or didn’t vote.

Second, appeal to voters to our Left by persuading them that those ideas, delivered by a rebuilt Conservative Party, are the best for them personally and for the whole country.

That is how we bring together into a winning coalition the 15 million plus voters open to voting Conservative. Not by tilting to Leftish policies – but by explaining, by selling, by persuading voters that conservative policies are the best policies.

Here, style matters. Robert’s mix of steely principled conservative beliefs and his emollient, courteous, persuasive style surely offers us the best chance of building the necessary coalition. Even someone as conservative as I am doesn’t think that simply asserting conservative or anti-woke policies in an aggressive confrontational manner is enough to win. That style may make us feel good in Opposition – but we aren’t aspiring to be in Opposition for ever.

By 2028, if not long before, Labour’s ideas will be burned through and burnt out. We then need to have a thought through alternative strategy ready: better ideas, presented attractively and persuasively to every voter who is willing to take a look at us. For me, Rob Jenrick is the man for that.

So, if you are a party member, this isn’t the moment to vote reflexively or wearily on the basis of earlier presumptions. It’s the moment to think hard about the choice – to reflect fully on what it takes to win an election, not just what makes us feel good now.

I believe the right choice is Robert Jenrick.