Sam Merullo: Despite the new year noise the blueprint for a Tory revival should be to ‘paint it bold’

Sam Merullo works in venture capital and is chair of a London academy school. 

Kemi Badenoch had returned to Westminster after Christmas break with a gentle spring in her step.

Just twelve months ago, the outlook was bleak: a bankrupt party, a hollowed-out parliamentary cohort, the spectre of an insurgent Nigel Farage and the lingering scent of internal mutiny.

The last few days may not have been an easy one for the party, but the low tide has turned. For the first time since the last election cycle, the party has finally edged ahead of Labour in the polls and the pre-emptive strike on Robert Jenrick reinforces Badenoch’s grip on the party.

The work must – and does – continue apace.

The Conservative Party emerged from the 2024 election in a state of profound shock.

Defeat, however, presents opportunity. It is a chance to recalibrate, rediscover its instincts and craft a message that speaks once again to a country drifting away. But leadership quickly discovered that it could not rely upon the comforting fiction of a two-year sabbatical for quiet reconstruction. Politics – and election cycles – have accelerated. Labour’s early economic bungling, coupled with the disruptive velocity of Reform, prevented CCHQ from retreating to the think-tank monastery, hoping to just emerge reborn.

The party needs a programme that is bold rather than apologetic: a welfare system that rewards graft over indolence; an immigration policy that is both firm and believable; and a pro-growth economic agenda rooted in enterprise, aspiration and the simple proposition that Britain should be richer than it is. The challenge, of course, is to restore our economy by reducing tax and welfare whilst gaining the votes needed to win.

Governing demands the courage to defy public opinion. Opposition, perversely, demands acute sensitivity to it. Conservatives must reckon with the country as it is, not as they wish it were. We must recognise the prevailing public mood: that we are over-policed yet under-protected; that community is fraying; that stagnant growth and sticky inflation are leaving people poorer and angrier; that businesses are shackled with ever increasing cost and regulation; and that unpoliced migration continues to reshape the country in ways no one voted for.

Party Conferences are echo chambers, but last year’s was particularly important in providing clarity of purpose. The party is now beginning to look and feel like a coherent government-in-waiting. But we must stay on the front foot: visible, proactive and combative. The leader and shadow cabinet must own the airwaves, confident in their role as HM’s formal Opposition, calling out Labour failures and presenting a bold, positive alternative. We should not be distracted by Reform.

Cosmetics matter too. The party must reconsider how it looks, sounds and feels. A thorough, values-based 360 degree rebrand is essential: a clean break from the past but still grounded in Conservative principles.

Conservatism is not merely about conserving the best and improving the worst, it is more fundamentally about the British Dream for all – optimism, ambition, and the promise of a future rich with opportunity.

To win back those drifting to Reform, the Lib Dems and – crucially – younger voters, it needs to build on its improved social-media presence, with content that projects confidence and adopts a tone that is humorous, surprising, zany and anarchic. The party must feel like a new organisation, forward-looking, led by fresh faces and no longer shackled to yesteryear.

Labour’s economic mismanagement provides the opportunity.

The Conservatives are once again becoming the party of responsible government, fiscal sobriety, upward mobility and economic opportunity.

Policies should be painted in bold primary colours – vivid, outcome-driven and rooted in Thatcher’s old observation that ‘everyone is essentially a Conservative.’

The task is to remind the country of that fact, before someone else does.