'Reform has been created by the failures in British politics - if Tories learn right lessons, the party can come back from loss'
Reform has been created by the failures in British politics, says Dame Jackie Doyle-Price
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Dame Jackie Doyle-Price is a former Conservative Party politician
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After a truly terrible showing for the Conservatives at the election, the future of the most successful political party in the world is at a crossroads.
Let’s remind ourselves how we got here. As Conservatives, our reputation rested on competence. A fundamental belief is that people keep more of their own money rather than pay it in taxes. We were pragmatic, not ideological. We would get on with the business of Government professionally and without drama.
Being brutally fran,k that brand has been trashed in recent years by events worthy of soap operas. People just wanted to kick the Tories out. And even our most loyal supporters had lost their patience. They were never going to vote Labour, but they could stay at home or vote Reform. And many of them did.
The Conservative Party can recover from this, but only if it collectively grows up and recovers its self-discipline and focus.
And that means recovering our confidence in being Conservatives. It does not mean running after the agenda set by others.
The collapse in the Conservative vote was not all about Reform. Nor did the Reform vote only come from Conservative voters. Conservatives lost seats in droves to Liberal Democrats. And whilst Keir Starmer has won a landslide for Labour, he has done so with fewer votes than Jeremy Corbyn ever got. Reform took Labour votes too. And will continue to do so.
Reform has been created by the failures in British politics. The worldview expressed by metropolitan liberals living within the M25 feels miles away from those outside it.
When politicians do no more than trot out pre-prepared lines and spin the public loses faith and ceases to believe them. It was this mood that led to Brexit.
The Conservative Party can come back from this but only if it learns the right lessons.
As Conservatives, we know what we believe in. We know that the State doesn’t know best.
Yet for the last fourteen years, we have boasted about how much taxpayer's money we have spent on public services as if that was the measure of success. We lost our focus on lower taxes and value for money.
The Conservative Party is nothing if it is not the guardian of the taxpayer's pound.
We don’t need focus groups and opinion polls to tell us what we should do.
Good leadership rests on doing the right thing, not what is immediately popular. If you do the right thing, popularity will follow.
Polls will always demand both more spending on the NHS and lower taxes.
Level with the public about the choices and how much they will have to pay for them. Have the confidence to engage in the battle of belief based on Conservative values.
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As Conservatives, we have always believed that the first duty of the State is to keep its people safe.
Strong defence and an emphasis on law and order are central Conservative principles.
Today's world is as dangerous as it has ever been in the face of Russia, Iran and China. Defending our freedoms must be central to the Conservative Party’s message going forward.
And we must stop airing our dirty linen in public. As Conservatives our shared beliefs are greater than the things which divide us. If we continue to bicker in public, the only winners will be our opponents.
If we do all these things Conservatives will return to us. If we don’t, they will continue to stay at home or go elsewhere. The future of the Conservative Party rests on how it behaves.
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