Charles Martin: The Tory identity crisis runs deeper than leadership dramas

Charles Martin is a political advisor and policy researcher. He is reading law at the University of Exeter.

There is little need to point out the obvious and say that the Conservative Party has been through a catastrophic few years. Economic credibility lost at the end of 2022 as a result of that infamous mini-budget; constant leadership instability; and a dire general election result which now finds the party on the opposition benches.

There is no denying that a rebuild is in order, with the leader of the opposition currently laying the foundations to renew the party. As we rebuild, it is absolutely crucial in this moment that we understand why the party has even got to this position in the first instance – and the problem is to be found a lot deeper than leadership psychodramas.

The case must be made to restore the Conservative Party to the party of pragmatism and genuine centre-right policy.

The shift away from the party’s roots has been ruinous for the prospects of any hope of re-election and is a major cause of the sour end to the last Tory government. It was absolutely evident that all sense of pragmatism had been lost when, in the 2022 mini budget, Liz Truss went ahead with reckless plans without consulting the very independent regulator the Conservatives brought in.

It appears this issue surrounding identity was largely escalated by the Boris Johnson landslide win of 2019 which saw the red wall fall. The context of this election was of course that it was the “Get Brexit Done” election; a slogan which Johnson relentlessly peddled. In subsequent elections this was not the issue of the time, which saw voters go back to their original political affiliations.

It would seem instead of going back to their own centre-right policy base, the Conservatives aimed on creating policies to retain as much of these new voters as possible, rather than create policies for which the party is traditionally known for – and it has never truly returned to the basics of being British Conservative.

This populist agenda was carried through subsequent conservative governments in a desperate attempt to retain any sort of support for the party, abandoning their true voter base. Now, of course, there is no denying that to aim to be the governing party means to attempt to appeal to as many of the electorate as possible – but that should be done in an organic way which embodies genuinely conservative principles, rather than the party pledging policies which is not in its DNA.

The way to beat Reform is not to follow them on their populist agenda; it is to reestablish the party as the genuine conservative option which has conviction over what it stands for.

The issue Reform UK currently have is that they are still trying to retain the momentum from the last general election. This means they are a lot more persistent with policy pledges and political theatrics only at the second year of the parliament. This makes them more susceptible to an inconsistent manifesto, which has already started to take shape.

If the Tories wish to credibly call this out, they must have a credible plan of their own. The issue of late for the Tories has been genuinely good charges made towards opposition parties, which then ring hollow due to a lack of credibility.

As the party finds itself in opposition, the dynamic of how you would portray this change is obviously different to how you would portray it being in government. The shadow cabinet must show this return to traditional conservatism through a consistent tone in messaging, as well as calculated policy announcements, which depict a changed party which has gone back to its Conservative roots. Not one which has bowed down to populism.

This is not to say that as soon as the party returns to any sense of thought-out conservative party policy that the voters will automatically follow; but the party has been damaged so much to the point these basics must be reestablished for any hope for that to ever be the case again.

The electorate is in need of a genuinely conservative choice once again, and it is up to those within the party to provide once they accept that the political philosophy of the party has been lost. By returning to these basics the correct foundations will be set in order to find the economic credibly and pragmatic policies which the Conservative Party has been traditionally known for.