At the Conservative Party Conference, Tom Tugendhat argued that the recent vote wasn’t a vote for other parties, naming Libdem and Reform UK, but was a vote against the Conservatives. He also said that Reform politicians were not “real Conservatives” and “not serious people” but that Reform voters “are our people.”
Kemi Badenoch seemed to be reading from a similar script saying that Reform UK’s leadership are not “real conservatives” or “serious people”
At the Reform UK Conference, in Nigel Farage’s address, he said that he has been asked who he wishes to lead the Conservative Party, and has said he simply doesn’t care.
There seems to be a obsession with Labour “not being right wing”, and Conservatives being conservative, but not really being able to define what that means. Conservatives have no normal leadership contest, but a contest that will fundamentally define the party.
Meanwhile, Reform UK happily talks about the need for change, and their developing policies.
It’s interesting that the Conservative Leader candidates are referring to Reform UK as “not being real conservatives”, but what is a real conservative ?
The concept of ‘I am left wing, therefore I should vote Labour’ or, ‘I am right wing, so should vote Conservative’ seems to be becoming lost in time. I think for many the definition of being left wing means you vote Labour and being right wing means you vote Conservative – so strange strange circular reasoning.
Also, the terms are used in a derogatory sense, with Keir Starmer referring to right wing rioters, you have to wonder if what he was really trying to say was that it wasn’t Labour-voters rioting.
But fundamentally what people seem to be moving away from is a lack of listening from any political party, and not tackling what are the real issues that people want to be tackled. Reform UK is a populist party, and that often is mentioned as that is being a fault. Populist means appealing to ordinary people, and that must be a good thing, as long as it is coupled with pragmatism. What is wrong, however, is having populist policies that are then abandoned when they are no longer seen as needed to attract the electorate.
Reform UK needs to not just ride a wave of disenchantment, and interest in the party, but to really tune into what their members are looking for them to do.
Reform UK is in a tricky position though. Although Labour, Libdem and Conservatives have all lost trust from the electorate, so has Reform UK with its approach to Brexit. In 2019 the party stood back from the general election to get ‘Brexit over the line’ – that remains a controversial decision, that still warrants scrutiny, and a better plan from Reform UK in what needs to happen in that area.