Christopher Howarth works for the European Research Group is former Parliamentary candidate, special adviser and author of a forthcoming political thriller The Durian Pact, based on his time in politics.
What is the point in the Conservative Party? That may seem an odd question. But given half the potential Conservative vote has decided to pursue its political interests elsewhere it seem unavoidable. Many conservatives appear to think the party has no point.
So, starting from the beginning. What is the purpose of the political party?
To win elections, I hear you (and many of the leadership candidates) say. Well, no. Not really. That comes later. Still less is it’s purpose to provide seats and ministerial posts for politicians.
The purpose of a political party comes from its foundation: a group of individuals and interests coming together to pursue their shared political interests. In the Conservative Party’s case it is Conservative Party members, members who come together collectively to pursue conservative policies and causes.
Of course, winning elections is a good way to do that – but winning elections is not the end in itself. Having won seats there are responsibilities: providing an effective opposition or government. But the Cabinet manual does not dictate the purpose of political parties.
The Labour Party has always had a clear view of its ‘stakeholders’ interests and delivers on them. Be it wage rises for their public sector worker voter base, employment and trades union rights for their paymasters. It’s a clearly a joint endeavour. They expect their party to deliver or the Unions will withhold their support.
The Conservative Party, by contrast, has never been very clear about its purpose or the interests it represents. How else could we explain being in power for fourteen years and leaving power a country far less conservative than before? What conservative causes and policies have been delivered for those that invest their time and money in getting Conservative MPs elected? Few, if any.
Often, Conservative politicians seem to have grasped the wrong end of the telescope. Even now we see leadership contenders pondering how better members could be better utilised to win elections. That is fundamentally the wrong question.
The real question is: why should members be members at all, if the representatives they work so hard to support do nothing in return? The Party is not owned by the leader an MPs. When it acts as if it is, disaster is not far away.
Conservative members have been promised many things over the last 14 years. Cuts to inheritance tax in 2007, 2010, and most elections ever since; cuts to migration at every election; strong defence; a cull of quangos; defence of the Union.
The list goes on. None were ever delivered. Instead, we got steadily higher taxes, record immigration, more quangos, cuts to historic regiments, a miniscule navy, more diversity laws, and a border down the middle of the Irish Sea.
That is what the collective endeavour of our members to pursue conservatism got them. We had MPs who prioritised coalition with Liberals Democrats over Conservatism; others who, devoid of their own conservative ideology, saw the world through the lens of their opponents and adopted much of their programme.
As a result, the party spent more time explaining to members why they were wrong than delivering for them.
So, I ask again, what is the point of the Conservative Party? If you were of a conservative inclination would your time and money be better spent on helping a centre-right think tank? Would you be better off championing single-issue causes? Joining NGOs and institutions and making your voice heard there? Perhaps even try to break into journalism…
Perhaps, even, back another party, despite knowing they will never gain power you may influence policy. Sadly, the Conservative Party does not seem to provide a good return on investment.
So, what can be done? Is it worth saving? The survival of the Conservative Party is by no means guaranteed, nor should it be. To survive it needs to go back to its roots.
Forget the view from on high – it’s the members and their political interests that are the purpose and foundation of the party. The members should be front and centre of what the Party does, and it should be delivering the conservatism they wish to see.
Until we realise that, we can and should forget about winning elections as we have no clear reason as to what to do once we have won.
That is the challenge for this leadership contest. Putting members and their interests front and centre of what we do. We need MPs who want to deliver conservatism – not delivering nominal conservatives into office. We don’t merely want to ‘keep promises’ and ‘be united’; we want the right promises, and unity around the members interests.
So, let’s have a real contest. Real ideas put forward. No more triangulation and vibes, no more empty pleas to members to help win elections before the leadership is clear what conservative policies they will deliver for members.
This is an urgent task. The Labour Party can and is doing untold damage in the pursuit of its ‘stakeholders’ interests. Public sector wage rises paid for by punitive taxes? We know how that story ends.
There remains a huge swath of the country that wish to see conservative values delivered: a dynamic economy, conservation of our cultural values and history, a strong UK in the world, and individual responsibility under the law.
If the Conservative Party does not wish to deliver on these interests someone else will try, be it campaign groups, think tanks, journalists… or even another political party.
