Laura Blumenthal: Introducing Tory Successes, a new resource website for Conservative candidates

Laura Blumenthal is a communications professional and stood in the General Election 2024 in Brentford and Isleworth in West London. She also spent a decade as a Conservative councillor in Berkshire.

We Conservatives have long had a communications problem. It’s nothing new: our policies often incentivise the right behaviour and outcomes, but are sometimes counter-intuitive. This allows for simplistic critiques and hate-filled onslaughts from those of the Left who think their attempts to vilify, lie and smear us are all done with the best of intentions. We’re not good at “tooting our own horn” or defending the poor treatment towards us from others.

But the tide is turning. Iain Dale’s new book on Margaret Thatcher aimed at the younger generation, the Next Gen Tories’ social media efforts to communicate policies for the under 40s, and the articulate, punchy, and straightforward communications from leading MPs like Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, Katie Lam, and Nick Timothy all reflect this change.

I’m making my own modest contribution by publishing www.torysuccesses.co.uk, a resource for Conservative candidates, campaigners and associations. It focuses on the Conservative wins during the 14 years in Government as well as more historic successes. The details and facts you need, with the messaging people will understand. As we approach elections, other parties will try to make out that there were no successes during our last time in office. But there were plenty, and we must remember ourselves, that the public returned a Conservative Government four times during this period!

The site features content from the valuable ‘Notes for Speakers’ book CCHQ gave out to parliamentary candidates last year. As a general election candidate myself I had wished there was an accessible online resource I could share with my team who were keen to find out about Conservative national policies and our track-record, which they could share on the doorstep. Tory Successes is the resource that I wanted and already, other former candidates and MPs have welcomed it warmly. The site also includes the newly announced policies from party conference so is future-focused and forward-looking in tone.

There is still a long way to go in improving our communications and sharing Conservative ideas. For example, there is a severe lack of video content on YouTube on what Conservatism is, the history of the Conservative Party, and an explanation of Conservative ideas. The Yanks have done great work on their side of the pond but there is a real gap that needs to be filled by the Brits. If there is a vacuum of information then those who do not wish us well will fill it with their opinions, often with little pushback.

In this vein, I have an ambition for Tory Successes to feature suggested rebuttals to anti-Conservative messaging, biased questions and downright lies which have become dominant in UK culture as accepted truths and cliches. Suggestions for this aspect of course, are very welcome.

Podcasts, festivals (like the Battle of Ideas) and social media have generated wider channels to discuss and publicise Conservative ideals and potential solutions to the UK’s biggest problems. It’s crucial we seize these opportunities today.

The political landscape has shifted radically in the last year, as has the seriousness of the issues we face. Most importantly, what the public demands has changed rapidly. We Conservatives need to be better communicators and think about how we can all contribute to support each other to promote our principles, solutions and successes.