The Tories are approaching their own phase two – and it includes a Loto shake-up

It has only been 18 days since Sir Keir Starmer unveiled “phase two” of his Labour government. In that time he has lost his deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to a tax scandal, his US ambassador to a Jeffrey Epstein scandal and his director of political strategy Paul Ovenden to a misogynistic messaging scandal. God only knows what larks phase three has in store for us.

The turbulence is not confined to Labour. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s yet to be launchd project – ‘Your Party UK’ – enjoyed its second bust-up yesterday; Corbyn and his gang of Gaza-independent MPs accused Sultana of sending an “unauthorised” membership email, while she branded the group a “sexist boys’ boys club” (who’d have guessed that Jeremy Corbyn and a group of socially conservative sectarian Islamic MPs could ever behave like that). 

Reform UK’s recently announced head of policy Zia Yusuf is the same person who quit the party a few months ago following an internal row – claiming that working to get the party elected was no longer “a good use of my time” – only to rejoin less than 48 hours later. Even the Greens selected a new leader, not from their MPs sitting in Parliament but campaigner Zack Polanski who once claimed he could increase the size of women’s breasts with his mind. 

The Liberal Democrats … okay, nothing has happened with them as far as I am aware but then again, they are Liberal Democrats, it is very rare for something interesting to be going on.

The Conservative Party, with grumbling that has not flared up just yet and only the one MP defection on its books so far, could be described as relatively calm. As the party continues to poll at around 18 per cent under Badenoch, the plateau could be mistaken for some sort of stability – but in reality it is a worrying flatline resembling something closer to rigor mortis.

So just as Starmer launched a shake-up of his internal No.10 team to try and boost momentum, ConservativeHome understands that Badenoch is doing the same with her leader of the opposition office (Loto) to inject some lifeblood into the troops.

A series of new hires have been made to bolster her team, especially with party conference in sight and as Badenoch approaches that all important marker of a year in the role come November 2nd.

Lord Stephen Gilbert, formerly David Cameron’s political secretary, is joining Loto as senior political adviser, while ex-MP for Aylesbury and former TV news presenter Rob Butler will be serving as a part-time communications advisor until Christmas.

The highly-regarded Merlin Platt-Higgins, who as Helen Whately’s advisor was credited with much of the Tories recent work around welfare policy, is moving to make some magic as Badenoch’s speechwriter.

Gilbert’s appointment is very much one of note. A long-serving Tory strategist who has worked with the party since the 1990s, he has been previously described as “unquestionably the most long-serving and experienced member of the in-house campaign team”.

His experience dates back to his time as a young Tory official, when Gilbert was reportedly one of the few people who realised the Tories were going to lose by a landslide to Tony Blair, sending them into opposition – but his warnings, and advice to focus on ‘safe’ Tory seats rather than marginals, were ignored.

Gilbert’s long-term service to the party was rewarded in 2015 when he was handed a peerage by Cameron, having acted as the link between No. 10 and the party. Although he frustrated the Brexiteer right when – as Tory deputy chairman at the time of the referendum – he took a part-time role at Populus, the official polling company for the main Remain campaign group, leading to him resigning his role out of “respect”.

After the referendum he joined a lobbying firm, but was soon brought back into CCHQ by Theresa May to help during the election campaign. Badenoch will be hoping his reputation as a serious player strengthens her hand. 

Private office has been bolstered too with the addition of former science and technology adviser to Alan Mak, Anne-Sophie Faivre, working alongside David Goss as Badenoch’s two private secretaries.

The movement outwards is political secretary James Roberts, who has been managing relations between Loto and Tory MPs, as he leaves ahead of the birth of his second child.

The latest series of additions comes after Badenoch already having appointed the very well-regarded Mark McInnes as CCHQ’s chief executive, alongside Cameron-era cabinet minister Lord Francis Maude coming in as an adviser

Her shadow cabinet reshuffle also saw John Glen and Neil O’Brien take their places around the top table – bringing experience from William Hague’s time in opposition, alongside Cameron and May’s time in government – as PPS and head of policy renewal respectively, along with Henry Newman move into the chief of staff role on Lee Rowley’s departure.

Once her closest political friend and ally, Rowley gave a presentation at the start of this year in which he set out the ‘Three, Five’ strategy he wanted the Tory party to follow. Three year-long phases – admit mistakes, build credibility, win power – based on five objectives: to win, to rebuild, to compete, to gain public trust and to jump ahead.

Almost a year in, Rowley thought the party would be moving on to building credibility, and although it may not be with him around – having left for the private sector – the latest set of appointments are very much with that intention in mind. The idea being that the Tory party focus on becoming a credible alternative to government instead of Labour. This is where they see an opportunity to pull clear of Reform.

Those close to Badenoch hit back at suggestions they haven’t said anything on policy, pointing to immigration plans relating to Indefinite Leave to Remain, declaring Net Zero by 2050 impossible, and setting out her five tests for the laws holding Britain back in launching a review of the ECHR. Done, her allies say, to draw a line under previous Conservative governments.

They also defend not rushing, saying that Badenoch was very clear during the leadership campaign that she wouldn’t put out announcements without a proper plan: “Announcements aren’t policies, they’re just announcements.” Winning on that platform, her allies say, gives her a mandate for a thought through approach.

Perhaps. But conference is looming, and there is always the danger of not just flatlining at 18 per cent, but falling further. Badenoch’s new hires are designed to shift her party from survival mode to something more recognisably competitive – her leadership depends on it.