Conservatives look for answers after election crushing defeat

The slogan “review and rebuild” was ubiquitous at this year’s Conservative Party annual conference, the first time the party has been out of office since 2009.

There is already a fierce debate within the party over the reasons for its defeat in July’s election, the worst in its history.

But the impending election of the party’s next leader has sparked a search for answers.

The party announced that former cabinet minister Lord McLaughlin would lead an audit into the problems. His preliminary findings will be put to Rishi Sunak’s successor in a party members vote next month.

However, this is far from the only diagnosis offered.

The campaign itself was criticized throughout the session.

Former leadership candidate Mel Stride was one of the party’s most frequent media performers during the election, telling fringe figures he had made “mistakes” including the gambling scandal and the Sussex scandal. Nak decided Leaving the D-Day event early confusing the party’s message to voters.

He also said the decision to hold early elections in the summer was “questionable”.

Grant Shapps is one of many government figures lost seat in julyAnother fringe further told that the decision to go early was “tragic” and that the party was not ready to select and field candidates.

The former cabinet minister, known in Westminster for his data-driven approach to campaigning, has set up a new group, Conservatives United, to find out what lessons the party needs to learn.

The report believes that despite the Conservatives’ heavy defeat, the next election still hangs in the balance, with Labor’s vast majority based on a “fragile” vote base.

It suggested a range of reasons for the party’s failure, from a “disconnect” between the central party and local branches to the lack of success of TikTok, which is seen as increasingly important for attracting younger voters.

Tory colleague and pollster Lord Ashcroft published a pamphlet called Smell of the Coffee in 2005 in an attempt to help the party emerge from the electoral wilderness after that year’s election defeat, producing a 96 page paperback, analyzing the party’s 2024 defeat.

The book, launched during the conference and drawing on polls of voters, points to a lack of trust among voters as a core reason for the party’s poor performance.

It was the second bestseller at Birmingham Conference Bookstore this week.

This is a theme that all leadership candidates have tried to embrace but failed to deliver on the promises they often mentioned in their leadership campaigns.

The failure to reduce immigration levels is often raised. Stride admitted the party had “completely lost control” of legal immigration, while promising to stop migrant boats too prominently.

Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has become the poster child for how the party has won over voters in the “red wall” of former Labor seats in northern England, highlighting a failure to deliver on promises to “lift up” areas outside London.

“We promised exactly the right things in 2019, but we didn’t deliver on any of them. That’s actually what led to the outcome,” he told The Verge. “Our own success is the biggest issue.”

Polls show the party’s support has fallen sharply twice in the years since its 2019 victory.

The first was around the time of the Partygate scandal, when Labor overtook the Conservatives in overall popularity nationally. That lead widened even further with the launch of Liz Truss’s Mini Budget.

Former finance minister Laura Trott admitted in a panel discussion: “You can’t ignore Covid parties and mini-budgets.”

Former cabinet minister Michael Gove, who spoke alongside her, said the mini-budget was a “toxic” blow to the Conservative brand, adding that it gave voters the impression the party was conducting an “experiment” on them.

Senior MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, whose majority in the previously safe North Cotswolds seat was slashed, said the legacy of Johnson and Truss made Sunner Gram’s job is “extremely difficult.”

He added that Sunak’s decision to call the polls may have been because he had concluded “things are only going to get worse”.

Beyond the ups and downs of British politics since the pandemic, activists and politicians are also thinking about longer-term trends.

How to restore the party’s declining vote share among young voters has been a constant theme at Conservative Party conferences in recent years and a widely discussed topic.

Another cabinet minister, Penny Mordaunt, who was ousted from parliament in July, has been drafted in to broaden her membership base and promises the “biggest outreach program” in British political history.

At the end of the meeting, all four leadership contenders addressed members, saying they believed the party could turn things around in time for the next election, but that a change of direction was needed.

The failed diagnosis they identify with is critical in determining how they go about finding a cure.