Why the Conservative Party should consider moving to the left, not further right

Since the election of Boris Johnson in 2019, where an 80-seat majority yielded him a mandate to ‘Get Brexit Done’, demagoguery has returned to the political scene. Constituencies that were once vehement Labour strongholds instead turned blue (BBC News, 2019). At this time, a crucial factor in the Vote Leave campaign was regaining control of UK borders, in this we saw the beginning of an anti-immigrant sentiment that would dominate the party’s modern ideology. The following public scandals included successive Prime Minister, Liz Truss, accrediting Enoch Powell on immigration (GB News, 2024); and her successor, Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet running a strong anti-immigration campaign to ‘Stop the Boats’. Sunak’s Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, demonised immigrants using the rhetoric of “invasion” (Macaskill, 2022). Both the chaos of selecting and re-selecting party leaders and increasingly extreme positions, such as those motivating the Rwanda plan, highlighted the party’s increased willingness to move toward policy positions typical of the far-right. This was perhaps an attempt to assert a newfound identity, to differentiate themselves from those before, who stood accused of incompetence.  

Instead, focusing so heavily on immigration has led the party to lose sight of what its position is on other issues. This begs the question of what the party even stands for anymore. This is a concern echoed by the Tory Reform Group, who promote One-Nation Conservatism and suggests that the candidates currently running for party leader all represent the more extreme wing of the Conservative Party, which divides and misinterprets core aspects of Conservative ideology (Walker, 2024). Certainly, looking at the party now, from the position of the Cameron years, the party seems to have descended into chaos and incompetence, catapulting further towards the right of the political spectrum to try to make a desperate grab for supporters. Of course, the Cameron premiership does not represent the whole history of Conservative ideology. One-nation conservatism and Thatcherism have long disagreed on fundamental topics. 

However, Cameron’s ‘big society’ attempted to appeal to centre-ground voters and created a sense of hopefulness which contrasts with what we see today. Instead, leadership hopefuls continue to espouse seemingly random and unreasoned initiatives. One example is, Robert Jenrick’s campaign manager calling for a ‘culture war against the woke’ (Bienkov, 2024), his use of political buzzwords conveys a certain desperation for relevance. His leadership opponent Kemi Badenoch, stands accused of creating intimidating, bullyish environments in her offices (Crerar, 2024). Both examples demonstrate a tendency towards inflammatory and aggressive language, contrary to Cameron's hopefulness. Rather than letting the party sink deeper into division and crisis, the party needs revival and redirection, a move towards the centre-ground of the political spectrum, one that the Tory Reform Group advocates for, proving that it is not against Tory ideology to be a moderate, centrist force. 

One serious reason the party should do so is to prevent the normalisation of extreme attitudes which lead to hatred and disunity within society, hardly cohesive to a functioning democracy or civil community. Consider the electoral success of Reform UK this year. This is a party with a history steeped in controversy, and a leader largely seen as racist (Boffey, 2024), it was shown that previous Conservative voters were no longer loyal.  Some may argue that since extreme politicians and parties continue to be elected, this must demonstrate that the will of the people has simply become more radical But this argument overlooks why voters turn to more extreme parties in times when the traditional parties break down. 

Firstly, the election of far-right candidates does not necessarily mean that this is the popular will because elections are won usually with around 40% of the vote, meaning that the numerical majority of voters did not select the governing party or candidate. But most saliently, the concept of political alienation makes ground in explaining this voting behaviour. George Monbiot argues this point well:

“Many of those voting for demagogues and extremists have stumbled into this choice through disillusionment, alienation, and the absence of stories that make sense. Most are not ill-intentioned. When they heard someone calling through the political void, who instead of speaking in robotic platitudes [...] named their problems and promised solutions, they responded” (Monbiot, 2018, p. 26)

In conclusion, the widespread political momentum towards the far-right is a threat to stable democracy and a unified civil society. Therefore, the Conservative Party must combat this by moving towards the centre of the political spectrum rather than following the crowd towards the right. 

By Emma Titmas 

Bibliography

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Bienkov, A. 2024. Conservative Frontrunner Robert Jenrick Plans to ‘Win a Culture War’ with Young People. Byline Times. [Online] Available at: https://bylinetimes.com/2024/09/30/conservative-leadership-robert-jenrick-plans-to-win-a-culture-war-with-young-people/ (Accessed 11th Oct. 2024).

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Crerar, P. 2024. Kemi Badenoch accused of ‘bullying and traumatising’ staff. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/30/kemi-badenoch-accused-of-bullying-and-traumatising-staff (Accessed 11th Oct. 2024).

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Macaskill, A. 2022. UK home secretary complains of asylum seeker 'invasion'. [Online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-interior-minister-braverman-sent-official-documents-personal-email-six-times-2022-10-31/ (Accessed 11th Oct. 2024).

Monbiot, G. 2018. Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age Of Crisis. London, Verso.

Walker, P. 2024. Centrist Conservative group refuses to back Badenoch or Jenrick. The Guardian [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/10/centrist-conservatives-refuse-back-badenoch-jenrick-tory-reform-group-leadership-candidates-party-right (Accessed 11th Oct. 2024).