Nick Fletcher: I lost in Doncaster. But I’m still confident Badenoch can lead us to victory with true blue Conservatism.

Nick Fletcher was the Conservative candidate for Mayor of Doncaster and the MP for Don Valley.

When David Cameron returned as Foreign Secretary in 2023, and Lee Anderson lost the Conservative whip the following year, it exposed the deep divisions within our party. Some MPs, especially those fending off the Liberal Democrats, welcomed these moves. But I warned that for those of us facing growing pressure from Reform, this signalled serious trouble. Now, after a disastrous general election followed by an equally poor set of local elections, I believe those concerns have been vindicated.

Is David Cameron a poor politician or someone lacking ability? Of course not. Is Lee Anderson a gifted orator with exceptional ‘establishment’ credentials? Also no. So why would anyone choose to follow Lee instead of David? The answer is simple: Lee speaks to the masses. David speaks to the top 20 per cent, many of those who never have to deal with the consequences of poor government decisions.

The challenge now is convincing those current Conservative MPs who kept their seats and feel that a drift to the ‘establishment’ view is the right answer. They must recognise that was and is the wrong direction – and will continue to be so. That’s not easy. If they keep winning and people like me don’t (I lost last year and lost the Doncaster Mayoral election last week), they will continue believing they’re right. But the reality is, they’ll only ever be MPs in opposition. We need to find the solution – and it’s staring us in the face. The answer is in our name: we must be Conservative.

If we stick to what we know, what we should be, and what the public expects us to be, we will win again. Sadly, we’ve tried too often to be all things to all people, bending here, softening there, under the banner of kindness. But kindness without discernment breeds resentment. And that resentment is exactly where Reform is winning. Reform is capitalising on public anger about our borders, our legal system, and our ever-increasing state. The very issues the previous Conservative government drifted towards. And the deliberate movements of the current Labour governments.

Conservatism shouldn’t be socialist or populist. It should be Conservative. It’s about prudence, wisdom, fairness, law and order, opportunity, meritocracy. It’s about stepping back and letting people take charge of their own lives. It’s about keeping taxes low and government lean. We need to take that message to the public and help them understand that we want them to succeed but government doesn’t always have to be the solution to their every problem.

It’s time to set out clearly what this looks like in practice. We all remember Blair’s mantra: “Education, education, education.” If we are to win, ours must be: “Repeal, repeal, repeal.” Repeal the European Convention on Human Rights. Repeal the Equality Act. Repeal the Gender Recognition Act. We must educate the public about what this truly means. The Left will predictably spread misinformation: that Tories want to end marriage rights, deny fair pay, or abandon the vulnerable. But if we control the narrative clearly, consistently, and confidently, people will understand what Conservatism stands for.

They may not always agree with us. They may not even like us. But they will respect us. And they will know exactly where we stand. We must explain that without repealing these laws, we will continue to struggle to deport illegal immigrants. We will continue to curb free speech. We’ll keep relying on legislation to address social disorder when once, we relied on values and personal responsibility. We’ll keep spending time and money stopping biological males with mental health issues from entering our daughters’ changing rooms and women’s sports – and indoctrinating children in schools, places where they should be safe.

But we must not just resist; we must also build.

We have, rightly or wrongly, allowed many from different cultures into this country. While we often complain about others practising their customs here, we rarely demonstrate our own. Whether or not other cultural practices should be permitted here is a question for another day.

But we must start embracing our own culture before it is lost. I heard Douglas Murray say something recently that struck me:

“We assume that what we love, by our loving it, will make it indestructible. But what happens when it’s destroyed?”

We say we love our churches, yet they’re empty. We love our pubs, yet they’re closing. We love football but leave the coaching to someone else’s parent. We love the smell of libraries but leave the book-stacking to an ageing volunteer. We praise the “butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker” yet we shop online or at Tesco.

We must, as Conservatives, reclaim our culture. This doesn’t require billions in spending. It requires those wearing the Conservative badge to promote if not practice, what we believe are British values. Encourage church attendance. Promote community sport. Be visible and active in our towns and villages. Champion the Union Flag. Stop obsessing over niche identity issues while still being respectful and inclusive of all. And yes, we must be led.

Right now, Reform is dominating the airwaves. But let’s be clear. Nigel Farage is a great orator but not a leader. He’s demonstrated this nationally through constant fallouts with his own party members. All five of them. And he’s shown it locally too, by reportedly pressuring a 30-year-old with no political or business experience to be Reform’s Doncaster mayoral candidate, responsible for a £700 million budget.

Why? Because their original candidate dropped out, and Nigel having already booked Doncaster Racecourse for a high-profile announcement chose saving face over suitability. The result? A male model who could barely speak, hidden from view the moment questions were raised.

I challenged Nigel to debate me. But it seems Reform’s new “deportation minister” must have deported him to somewhere he could win.

And then there are the other party leaders, those who insisted a woman can have a penis. If someone is willing to follow a person who is either stupid, weak, or morally bankrupt, it speaks volumes. But again, this is often done in the name of “kindness” that same unexamined, undiscerning kindness that is slowly killing this country.

We don’t need kind slogans or Tik Tok personalities. We need a leader with backbone. Someone who understands Conservatism. Someone who won’t sway with every new social trend. Someone who can set a clear narrative the public can understand, believe in, and follow.

My hometown is in a mess. The country is in a mess. Socialism isn’t the answer. Neither is populism. What we need is true Conservatism. And we need a leader who can deliver it.

We have four years. Four years to get the detail right, before we take get the opportunity to take back leadership of this country. We must have a plan. We must state what needs repealing. We must prepare to fight. We must embrace and champion what is great. And we must be led without compromise.

As someone once told me:

“It’s not the direction of the wind. It’s the set of the sail that counts.”

And that sail must be set right, right towards true blue Conservatism. I am confident our current leader is the one to be the captain of the ship.