Ted Newson is a politics graduate and a political commentator for Young Voices.
Conference season is over for another year, and this was one for the ages.
Whether it was Ed Davey entering the Lib Dem conference with a marching band or Andrea Jenkyns walking onto the Reform stage singing, 2025 has been a year of weird and wonderful political communications. My experience at the Conservative conference is probably quite relatable. Getting heckled by a Manchester native when I first arrived and enjoying the late nights and early mornings with friends at the Midland Hotel bar are universal experiences at CPC.
Despite what many dissenting voices may tell you, the Tory party is still alive – albeit on life support. The policy announcements of abolishing stamp duty and being stricter on our borders have been well-received by the membership and especially the think tankers, who have advocated for tax simplification and a more secure migration system for years. While lots of the policy was encouraging, the overall atmosphere had some warning signs.
As I entered conference last Sunday, I was struck by how empty it was – granted this was during Kemi’s welcome speech. As we now learn that nearly a thousand fewer members have attended since last year, the Conservatives must concede that they are getting outflanked by Reform and something radical must be done to save the party from electoral defeat.
I for one am grateful that the leadership is getting more serious on Britain’s biggest issues of high taxes, high illegal migration, and low growth. I personally believe that we should be working with Reform to defeat Labour. Both parties make some great points and we ought to be influencing what could be the next government to make sure that they pursue fiscal conservatism over the high-spend big-state approach which Farage has previously suggested.
As good as the policy news was, there were clear teething troubles in Manchester.
The mixed reaction to Robert Jenrick’s statement at the TaxPayers’ Alliance reception about “taking on and beating Reform” shows that not everyone is buying what senior Tories are saying. The potential for Andrew Rosindell to defect should also be a concern for the leadership. His departure would give Reform another credibility boost and presumably a very able future foreign secretary being an MP for twenty-four years and shadow foreign affairs minister.
Being around the journalists at the Rural Reception also proved that not every Conservative believes in the current party agenda, with people having their doubts over Victoria Atkins’ speech.
It is clear that the membership isn’t completely on board with the current party line of making sweeping statements about new policy and opposition to Reform.
My view is that there are a lot of positives about Britain being the most pro-change right-wing electorate since Thatcher. The Tories could save their reputation by working with think tanks to fully cost and evaluate the effect of their policies to ensure a lower-tax, smaller-state economy. Costed spending cuts and eliminating stamp duty are a great start but I know much of the membership wants the party to go further.
The performance from the MPs was good, I thought. Jack Rankin is a proper working-class Tory that embodies Conservative aspiration. I can see him having a brilliant career in Parliament and his speeches throughout conference were punchy and defiant. Similarly, two other MPs from the 2024 intake in Katie Lam and Alison Griffiths also caught my attention: Katie for her sound views on personal liberty and strong borders, Alison for her passionate defence of the British high street and critique of the black economy, especially in coastal towns and cities such as my own.
Finally, as someone who spends a lot of time around think tankers, it was positive to see how high the attendance was at the Institute of Economic Affairs, TaxPayers’ Alliance, Popular Conservatism, and Adam Smith Institute events. One of my first events, “Does Britain need its own Milei?” with CapX, was incredibly well attended and shows that the membership is eager to promote radical action to get Britain out of its slump. While it is easy to become too dogmatic, the grassroots membership seems to love the idea of cutting the size of the state and encouraging greater personal responsibility, as do I.
Conservative YIMBY also made a splash with their first conference.
The demand for a better system for planning regulation, housing development, and new towns seems unmistakable. It feels good to say that the Tories are now going in the direction of development and getting young people on the housing ladder, rather than a party willing to block and delay new housing at every turn.
My expectations were of defeatism and a depressing mood. This did not prove to be the case.
Membership and MPs, old and young, acknowledged the challenges that Reform posed to the future of the party and I was encouraged by how passionate people were about a radical rethink of how we run the country. While we should be realistic and understand what low polling means for the Tory party, Conservatives shouldn’t resort to mudslinging or accusing their political opponents of “socialism”. While party leaders shouldn’t be keen to help out Reform, I believe that a Conservative-influenced Reform could help bring about a more Thatcherite Britain. The fight for true conservatism in the UK should not be crowded out by party politics and the right must be united against the high-tax, high-spend politics of recent times.
Kemi went into conference looking weak and lacking substance. She left with much of the membership reassured about her conservative values and behind her. Stamp duty was the red meat that the Tory faithful were hoping to see in Manchester.
The party has a way to go in winning back the British public, but for the membership, this conference proved successful.
