Ewan Cameron is an approved Conservative candidate and nationwide campaigner.
What a painful election 2024 has been for everyone.
All our activists, all who campaigned, raised funds, defended seats, and the 7 million who ultimately voted Conservative and got a socialist government.
The painful candidate selection processes, where local Associations and CCHQ too often didn’t align on what would be the best fit between candidate and constituency.
That panic feeling that ensued after the 22nd of May surprise announcement, when Associations, the Area Teams, and the Candidates Department all felt they should control the remaining candidate selections, whilst CCHQ also tried desperately to provide leadership whilst juggling setting up social media, distributing data, buying media space, and printing leaflets. Internal panic, unfortunately, gave way to lightning-rod examples when candidate selections trumped reasonableness and exploded spectacularly.
Now we look forward to our next leadership election. Oh joy! Like many others, I recall how painfully long the contest between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak felt as the two cavalcades rumbled through July, August, and into September 2022.
But we should understand the risks of trying to elect our next leader too quickly. We must accept that the press won’t be interested in us for a few more months. Sunak is a good man who can stay around and competently hold together the Parliamentary party. He will appreciate the need to increase dialogue and will take the time to consult more widely with MPs. Plus, we have the advantage that it should be relatively easy to identify when this Labour government fails to deliver.
I recall the excitement of William Hague being elected to lead us to victory over Tony Blair, ultimately giving way to the composure of Iain Duncan Smith and the gravitas of Michael Howard. But it took us until 2005 and three election defeats before we had done the hard-thinking necessary to imagine what the United Kingdom could achieve with a Conservative government.
I am sure we can agree that the United Kingdom will achieve so much more led by a government that:
- comprehends what free enterprise needs from government to generate growth
- has a plan to attract more high-paid jobs to the UK
- will enable people to stand tall, allowing more of the decisions that impact their daily lives to be taken locally
- understands that big government is a burden, not an enabler
- has secured a mandate to re-write the contract between the citizen and the NHS as the premise upon which NHS and social Care reform will be built
- knows what the Government should do to increase both private and social housing supply
- has a strategy that both fulfills our current and future need for lower-cost energy and at the same time reduces our dependency on fossil fuels
- recognises that we must invest more in our security today, to protect our tomorrow
After a weekend of reading potential leadership candidates describing our defeat as the result of a failure to deliver on our five priorities, I am convinced that we are not ready to elect a new leader. The voters I listened to, from Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock to Birmingham Erdington to Epsom & Ewell, did not simply feel let down by Sunak not achieving his priorities.
People expressed a desire for a better quality of life, to reside in communities where mutual respect and understanding prevail, where public services work, and where our four nations unite with a common purpose that will lead to a brighter future for all.
We are right not to rush into a leadership contest. Allow the analysis of the results to be carefully considered, and allow a little time for the realisation that 2024 was a protest election. People were not convinced by Labour. The Liberal Democrats once again played the role of a low-cost protest vote, and some understandably expressed their frustration by voting for Reform, wanting to give the Tories a kicking, without the risk of Reform taking power.
A little time will also allow our intake of new Conservative MPs to find their footing, learn more about their colleagues, understand more about how Parliament works, and identify those individuals with the skills to lead us back to power from the Opposition benches.
But our parliamentarians alone can’t win the next general election. As a party, we have much work to do, not only to recalibrate our campaigning machinery at national and area levels but importantly, must attract and then foster talented candidates throughout the country. We need talent that will invest their time, collaborate with colleagues to enhance their skills, and with the support of a strong Association network, build a local profile.
Only by putting in the hard work and time necessary to identify talent and investing to transform talent into high-caliber candidates can we expect to win back councils, win mayoral races, win assembly seats, and assemble more than 250 strong candidates with the time to become known, trusted, and respected locally as strong communicators on how national policies do and will impact people’s lives.
Who we elect to be the next leader of the Conservative Party will have the opportunity to define the party for at least the next 15 years. With a longer timetable, we have sufficient time to know what we’re voting for in this election.
