It’s a law of modern politics, that ‘Yes, Minister’ always has a line:
Sir Humphrey: Unfortunately, although the answer was indeed clear, simple, and straightforward, there is some difficulty in justifiably assigning to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement, inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts, insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated, is such as to cause epistemological problems, of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be expected to bear.
Hacker: Epistemological? What are you talking about?
Sir Humphrey: You told a lie.
Politicians have been accused of lying for years. Let’s never pretend it’s something new. Kier Starmer’s Labour party levelled it at Boris Johnson regularly, and to be fair so did a fair few members of the Conservative Party.
Kier Starmer’s Labour party have been accused of it repeatedly since they started doing things they claimed they wouldn’t and doing other things they never mentioned they would do. If his aim was, as he so many times said in opposition, to restore trust in politics he has spectacularly failed in just four months. Sadly, just when trust was at its lowest ebb under the Conservatives – politics itself gets caught in the blast range.
One of the reasons Kemi Badenoch won the leadership of the Conservative party was that she was seen as a straight talker. Authentic and means what she says, even if some wished she hadn’t said it. She’s been in charge for two weeks and told the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner this weekend:
‘“I’m enjoying it, which I’m surprised by,” she says. Badenoch has a habit of saying exactly what she is thinking, rather than giving what might be termed a “politician’s answer”, and while it has earned her a share of criticism – usually from the Left – it also makes her stand out from a somewhat bland crowd in Westminster.’
The most powerful reason for being direct and honest, whilst it may be useful to stand out in a crowd, is there seems a genuine appetite for it, right now, amongst voters. This has not always been the case.
It has long been the case – I have been just as guilty myself – that voters can hold competing views simultaneously. It makes an odd prism for making political choices.
I once interviewed a highly intelligent marine biologist during an election campaign and asked who he was minded to vote for. His answer was that he was concerned about the environment and immigration so was torn between voting Green or UKIP.
Though he won’t remember, I once asked, Sadiq Khan, privately, long before he was Mayor of London why parties were not just honest with the public. It was nearly 20 years ago and ironically enough with reference to an expected Labour move on taxes, that had been denied but subsequently happened. His answer was that actually flagging these things to the public was electorally foolish. At the time some of his contemporaries on all sides privately agreed about their own policies. He was, sadly right, the public didn’t want the truth. Now I rather think they do.
If ever there was a moment for a straight talker it is now. But to really build trust it must be one who can be honest at the same time. The party is now in a place where it can be honest about where it failed in government. Admit it got things wrong and work from there. Kemi used the phrase at the launch of her leadership bid:
“We talked right and governed left”.
What seems to be the aim of her “Renewal 2030” – and we are awaiting details of how this process will actually happen – is to find a platform based on defined clear values that is neither left, nor right but authentically Conservative. I’d add a third criteria when looking further, that it is honest.
A message that is authentically Conservative and honest about it, will allow the party to explain that some things that may be popular, are not realistic, legal or affordable. That some things the party has been in favour of before, are not the answer for Britian in 2030 and thus by being up front with the electorate, gain trust that when they say what they want to do, it will get done, when the time comes.
I once thought of voters, with a cynical journalistic prism, that as Jack Nicholson’s character explodes, in A Few Good Men:
“You can’t handle the truth”.
I’ve changed my mind. I not only think they can handle it, they yearn for it.
It’s clear this Labour Government isn’t going to offer it, not without some major U-turns – and to be fair Government constrains ‘changing your mind”. However, that leaves the field free to the Conservatives, rocked by their heavy defeat, to have the space and the room, to start their rebuild with a mission: Tell it like it is. Don’t ‘sell unicorns’ like some opponents but find and define an offer, that is value based, clear and unambiguous, authentic and honest.
In fact, approach the next election in exactly the way Labour didn’t approach the last.
Kemi has a reputation for speaking her mind. Even she would admit at times it hasn’t always helped. Nonetheless enough of the party – as our ConHome survey predicted for months – decided she should lead.
There’s risks undoubtedly, but her characteristic of saying what she thinks, could be just the right skill at the right time.
