Fay Jones is the former Member of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a month since the worst election result in our party’s history, and a total wipeout in Wales. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the result; as I said in the hours after our defeat, it was a near-impossible task to recover from things like Partygate. The words of one of my farmers stick in my head: ‘If your campaign had been an animal, I’d have shot it’.
The challenge ahead for our new leader is huge. It is so much more than tacking right and tough talk on immigration. We need to rediscover our reputation for competence and earn back the trust of all those voters who deserted us – whether to the Greens, Liberal Democrats, Labour, or Reform. We also need to overhaul CCHQ and turn it back into the election-winning machine that it once was.
We don’t have a second to waste. Here in Wales, we face elections for the Senedd in just two years. If ever there was a wake-up call, surely it is the fact that we were unable to retain a single seat in Wales at a time when confidence in the Labour-run Welsh Government is at an all-time low with the First Minister having to resign just days after the election.
As part of our rebuild, the first thing we need is unity. The public told us very clearly on 4 July that they didn’t want to vote for divided parties; the perception of the Conservatives had become one of infighting, division, and self-interest. Only by uniting can we take the fight to Labour and get ourselves battle-ready so that we are in a position to win in two years here in Wales.
For me, the leader that we need is James Cleverly. I have known James since 2019 when he was Party Chairman during the most successful general election campaign in a generation that delivered us an eighty-seat majority and helped Boris Johnson to break the deadlock and get Brexit done.
As Party Chairman, he saw under the bonnet of CCHQ. He knows what works and what doesn’t. I also believe he is the leader who will help us as a party to embolden more people to stand for parliament. We should actively encourage strong local champions with a broad range of experiences to stand. In particular, I want to make sure that we are encouraging more women to stand and that we are a broad church, which should be reflected in the people that we return to parliament. For me, the critical issue is that he understands we are only successful when every region and nation of the United Kingdom is working together.
Most recently, I saw the work that he did as Home Secretary. As well as cutting levels of migration, he understood the importance of tackling rural crime – a huge issue in my part of Wales. In true Cleverly fashion, he made good on his promise to come and visit me in Brecon and Radnorshire. He is a grafter who gets out on the doors and gets stuck in.
I agree with Cleverly that we need to unite to win and to deliver. And he is right that you cannot just wish for unity, you have to earn it. Cleverly has the energy and the experience to lead that mission.
