Most people hear the word ‘politics’ and groan. Given the state of people’s finances this year and the pressing global issues we have faced, and continue to face, over the last few years, the last thing people want to hear about is more uncertainty in British politics. Yet here we are. After less than 3 years in office, the Conservative Party are in the process of turfing out another leader. Need I remind you all that the previous incumbent was also turfed out by the Parliamentary party after only 3 years?

Indeed after narrowly cobbling together a Conservative Government, with a little help from the Liberal democrats in 2010, and hot off the back of a financial crises which largely, and rather happily (for the Conservatives), fell almost squarely in Labour’s lap, the Party has failed to make good on the woes of a relentlessly pitiful opposition and seems content to have muddled along.

Perhaps the dismal performance of the Conservative Party over the following 12 years can be put down to exactly that? It is competition that drives performance after all. Nevertheless, Labour haven’t had to gird up their loins and put on a decent showing, instead they have had the good fortune of watching the Conservatives tear themselves apart over the question of British independence (something Labour are absolutely ideologically opposed to) without really doing much of anything else to dismantle the legacy of Blair. 

When all this seemed settled by the tub-thumping win, secured, in this author's view, largely by the commitments made by Boris Johnson and his supporters on the question of British Independence, we were of course blessed by the great flu of 2020 (and 2021 (and so on)). Again, the Labour party got to watch as it found itself in the happy position of being able to back a Conservative Party that having found itself in in hard times, abandoned conservatism for socialism and the big state. They must have been rubbing their hands together with glee as the Conservatives made their own arguments for them, whilst the country embraced a quasi-chinese style state in the name of the nation’s health.

All the while the more Libertarian conservative MPs continued to demonstrate the deep rift that continues to exist in the party, in spite of ‘Brexit being put to bed’. Perhaps this is indicative of a belief, held by some, that Brexit was a symptom of the party’s problems and not the cause? Given that our membership of the EU had been a bone of contention since before 1972 and before, and therefore also before the careers of Conservative politicians in the House today, it possibly isn’t a surprise and perhaps they can be forgiven for having confused symptom for cause in this instance.

What is unforgivable is their historical illiteracy, given the principles of conservatism (as outlined by the likes of Burke and Scruton, dinosaurs of course, according to one hopeful).

And finally again, a coup for the weakest opposition in possibly the history of Parliament, they have bumped off a third Conservative PM in a row, seemingly without having to lift a finger. One wonders if they aren’t perhaps more successful in opposition than they are in Government! Boris’ inability to grasp the nettle and reconcile the simple fact that you can’t behave as a libertarian in your personal life whilst imposing socialism on the rest of the country (one among a catalogue of personal failings) finally came back to bite him on the behind. Will he learn? Probably not, but that seems like it is a story-arch for another time as the mortally wounded beast prepares to exit stage left whilst the curtain rapidly comes down on his moribund performance. Nevertheless the rest of the Government are still sheepishly doing their best to take a bow for a performance they disclaim as not of their own doing whilst the blood still drips from the end of their rubber daggers, wielded more like clubs than finely honed blades.

But the pantomime isn’t over there. The Party, seemingly surprised at having found itself without a leader, apparently unaware of what deposing the last one would mean, have launched upon a new endeavour. It looks something a lot like what we saw from them three years ago, except now without the veil of Brexit to operate under.

Almost all of our remaining contenders have been a member of the party now under 3 different PMs, many in senior positions, and so find themselves in the rather awkward position of having to defenestrate the old lot whilst having to pretend they weren’t part of it. They have had to resort to the ridiculous spectacle of looking like a pushmi-pullyu, talking about trust out of one end whilst frantically trying to distance themselves from the mess they made of trust with the other. And it is painfully obvious to anyone that can see, least of all the party membership and Her Majesty’s Opposition.

Unfortunately those most blind to this appear to be those most culpable. Is anyone shocked at this point?

Rishi Sunak, chief conspirator, wielder of the rubber knife, with his stunning foresight was ready to go seven months ago (although his campiaign literature lacks his polish, despite the run up), one wonders how no one gave the game away sooner. Nevertheless he has amassed himself one of the weakest first place leadership bids in the history of the party. More amusingly still he seems to think it laudable to run with a pledge to ‘rebuild Britain's economy’, frankly I had no idea Zahawi (another hopeless hopeful) had managed to ruin it so quickly. Perhaps it is just still broken after 12 years of ‘conservative’ non-austerity and an attempt to balance the books that would make the likes of Enron blush? ‘You can trust me’ he says with a dazzling smile and a boyish twinkle in his eye. ‘I’m not so sure’ says I, as I check my pocket for my much lighter wallet.

All that said, whilst Mr Sunak has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame and become a household name virtually overnight (after he found a magic money tree sufficient to be able to pay out billions on funding lockdown), it must be remembered that he, along with Tugnedhat, is a 2015 entrant and not quite as long in the tooth as others.

Speaking of which, Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss represent the worst of the worst. Two candidates, each with 12 years of history as MPs, both with swathes of experience in Government and both therefore hopelessly complicit in the last 12 years of weak and feeble leadership. Far from sweeping into office and dispensing with the red tap and constitution crushing catastrophe of Labour’s stint in power, instead they have helped truss up the British public. At Least in Lizzes' defence, she wasn’t one of the Judases giving Boris a pat on the back. Just remember that when she says you can trust her to deliver change, bear in mind she is standing as the continuity candidate. If you can square that circle, good luck, because I can’t. 

Still, Liz is head and shoulders over Penny who has been embroiled in a row over where people can spend a penny, no, not cash, they’re not worth the metal they’re made of any more (probably). No, it seems Mrs Mordaunt is one of these Politicians who doesn’t seem to know what a woman is. When she is talking to the vast majority of the public she espouses the virtues of women’s rights and claims that of course she knows what a woman is, afterall ‘I am one’. When she is speaking to the tiny minority of people through the megaphone of PinkNews or behind closed doors in Parliament things are different, of course anyone can be a woman if they want to be.

And she has been tripped up by her own colleagues who point the finger squarely at her for trying to remove references to ‘woman’ from legal bills. ‘Check the record’ and people have, unfortunately for Penny. Trying to play both camps is never a good look and a half-penny is worth even less then a whole one, regardless of the type of penny we’re talking about. 

Tugendhat? Well at least he has the benefit of having not been in Government. From 2015 he has been able to shout from the sidelines and avoid the criticism one might level at the candidates who represent the constituency of continuity, arguing for change. Far from being a fresh tart, oven-ready, as it were, Tom’s ‘fresh start’ appears to mean little more than shuffling the deck-chairs on the titanic. Whilst to the general public, who appear to view the Conservatives as nothing short of the beginning of the end of the 1930s (if the rags are to be believed), he may seem like a fresh face, to the party membership he represents a doe-eyed bambi, stood startled in the spot-light of the 2024 General Election hurtling toward the party like an express train. Did you know he was in the army? I’m not sure it will matter.

No, all of these candidates so far represent more of the same stale, saccharin sweetener; artificial, devoid of energy, out-of-date. They represent a 12 year old party fresh out of ideas and this is a real problem. In 2024 they will be hoping for a ‘historic’ fifth term from the public but the sad reality is that whatever steam the ‘big society’ had is long since up in smoke. When I read the 2019 party manifesto, I could find little in it that wasn’t represented, in some form or other, in those of the Labour party, or the Liberal Democrats. The Conservative Party as it stands is out of ideas. Brexit was the only reason, in my view, that they were delivered an 80 seat majority and, given polling, it seems even the promise of future Brexit dividends isn’t going to be enough to prevent Labour from limping in to first place as part of a coalition of crack-pots with the anti-unionist SNP.

The issue they have is that Labour, for all their failings, are not out of ideas, they’re bad ones of course, but they are eager to try them. To a public fed up with the Conservative’s promises of jam tomorrow for the Just About Managings of yesterday, who have just about had enough of socialism by the back door, they might just be apathetic enough to let it happen. The Conservatives have 2 years and a solid majority in which they need to absolutely and resolutely reject the continuity of managed decline, provided by the big beasts of Cameron’s cabinet and its progeny. They absolutely have to dispense with the false promises of a brighter future, just around the corner, so long as we carry on doing what we’ve been doing for decades, and get real with the British public.

And then there is Kemi.

As the Party mimes hunting under rocks, over hill and down dale, looking high and low, rootling through a tired box of rusty old spark plugs pretending to search for this bright new spark to lead the party , it pretends not to have heard the audience frantically screaming ‘she’s behind you!’ at the top of their lungs. 

I’d heard of Kemi before June 2022 due to her forthright condemnation and repudiation of the political activist group, BLM (the less said about that American import, the better) in Parliament but given that she is from the 2017 intake, it’s not surprising that she wasn’t a household name, yet. This was of course until last week when she burst onto the scene with an energetic and bubbly character, in marked contrast to that of the other candidates. She has an air of relatability that the others simply lack and she is absolutely unafraid to broach the difficult issues. During the Conservative Home hustings the candidates were asked about the so called housing crisis all immediately launched in to the scripted and well practised waffle about supply side issues (we’ve heard them all before) that they’ve not bothered to resolve themselves in the past 12 years, the only candidate to mention demand side at all was Kemi Badenoch.

Kemi understands that building more homes in isolation will NEVER solve the perceived issue. Regardless of how much you densify the urban environment or release brownfield, concrete over green-belt, deregulate planning permission or ship in builders from Europe you will never crack this nut without addressing demand-side issues. A points-based immigration policy which allows in a bimingham's worth of people (net) every three years (however lovely though many of them undoubtedly are), and quantitative easing (monetary policy - chancellor and Bank of England…), which incentivises the holding of property as an asset with alternative uses, rather than as a family home, are part of the problem.

She understands how popular this fresh approach is with the grass-roots. In her recent Telegraph article she gave an olive branch to the great many people for whom Brexit meant ‘taking control of our borders’, by committing to slash net migration. These are People who saw the Conservative's pledge to reduce net immigration to the tens of thousands (a pledge since quietly ditched) as a reason to get out of bed and vote for them.

But the way she did this was linking many of these problems together as you might expect and engineer to do, Kemi highlighted the interconnectedness of many of our issues. Possibly the first Conservative to do so coherently since Cameron, and with a great deal more credibility, she outlined in that same article, the need for a linked-up fiscally AND socially conservative approach to governance. The importance of families, of home ownership, of fiscal responsibility and of a state that enables those things by being there when it needs to be and by getting out of the way when it does not.

Kemi may not be the perfect candidate for all, reasons for that may vary, but she is the best and most relatable conservative candidate that the Conservatives have had in my life-time. She represents a sea-change in the ability of the party to relate to the electorate and rethink its entrenched position, regardless of what the name recognition polls Mr Sunak or Ms Mordaunt proudly parade.

I will be one of the few in the country that do get a vote on the final two, as part of the party membership. If her name is not on the ballot I will be utterly disgusted with Conservative MPs who will have determined that two more years at the trough, before being put out to grass, was worth more than taking a hard tack and being straightforward, truthful and honest about the problems we face and the realities of the solutions needed to deal with them. I won't be alone, the latest ConHome poll puts Badenoch in a clear lead amongst the Conservative membership.

Whilst I acknowledge that they need to be able to have confidence in their spokesman (see my previous article on this subject) and that it is no good the membership electing someone that the MPs can not get behind, if they can’t get behind Kemi at this point, then I’m not sure that they, as a collective Party (individual MPs may vary), deserve the membership to continue standing behind and supporting them.

Tom Tugendhat is right, it IS time for a fresh start, just not with him. Sorry Tom.

If your MP is backing Badenoch, thank them from me. If, on the other hand, they are not and you want them to, then get an email to them now, petition them on Twitter, facebook, in person, by letter, however you can manage it before Tuesday because that is the only way she will get on that all important member ballot.