Emma Revell: Remaking Conservatism mustn’t be a revival of past glory but an evolution of core ideas

Emma Revell is External Affairs Director for the Centre for Policy Studies 

The idea of ‘remaking conservatism’ might sound counterintuitive. The clue’s in the name, after all.

But the world’s oldest political party has not achieved that distinction by being unresponsive to changing times. Indeed, this year we’re marking the 50^th anniversary of one of the most successful such projects – the reinvention of conservatism by Margaret Thatcher, Keith Joseph and their allies, which propelled the Conservatives to a period of unmatched electoral dominance.

Indeed, the Party’s very responsiveness to changing times over the decades partly explains why there are so many flavours of big-C and small-c conservatism co-existing today, if not always harmoniously. Just look at the caucuses and groupings which shelter under the small-c conservative umbrella: One Nation Tories, the Conservative Growth Group, the Northern Research Group, the ERG-ers and their star chamber, Blue Collar Conservatives, the Common Sense Group, and on and on.

These groups may disagree over what to prioritise at any given moment, or which voters are most critical for electoral success, or have different definitions of what it means to be a conservative. But the term, and the party, persist because the concept is broad enough to encompass a spectrum of ideas and opinions.

Today, however, conservatism stands at a crossroads – with the country facing huge problems (many of them caused, or exacerbated, by big-c Conservative governments) and genuine doubt over whether the Conservative Party will continue to be the leading vehicle for conservatism.

In truth, the Conservative Party has barely started to come to terms with the catastrophic electoral defeat it suffered last year, and the upcoming local elections are unlikely to give succour to the members or central office.

Working out what went wrong – both in terms of policy and plain politics – is key. Not just for the Conservative Party, but for the future of the country.

That is why we at the Centre for Policy Studies have chosen ‘Remaking Conservatism’ as the theme of our annual Margaret Thatcher Conference – established, and named, in honour of our co-founder, who used the think tank as the engine room of her political thinking, and her political revolution.

Thatcher was one of the most influential, and successful, figures in remaking conservatism in her image. The fact that right-wing politicians go out of their way to attach themselves to her style of politics – and in some cases, style of clothing – says a lot about how impactful she remains more than a decade after her death and more than 30 years since she left Downing Street.

But it’s not enough to just play the hits. We need to think just as seriously as Thatcher did about the challenges facing our country, and how to restore it to prosperity.

So what might that renewed conservatism look like?

That is what our conference seeks to debate and discover.

Kemi Badenoch and those around her have been quite clear that they don’t intend to produce a laundry list of policy announcements, preferring to focus on trying to restore the party’s credibility. As James Frayne of Public First argued in a Centre for Policy Studies paper towards the end of last year, the Conservative brand has been “hugely tainted” by failures in specific policy areas, primarily their failure to control immigration, fix the NHS, or bring down the cost of living.

The party also has a long-standing problem attracting younger voters.

The age at which more voters went blue rather than red at the last election was 63. That is on top of membership numbers falling off a cliff for most mainstream political parties compared to their peak decades ago. Reform UK, on the other hand, have been attracting members hand over fist, and seem to have a particular talent for targeting and energising younger voters.

That’s why one of the three panels at our conference will focus on perceptions of conservatism, with both a big and small C. But we also know there is much to learn from our counterparts overseas – and not just the ones in Washington. So the conference will also bring together journalists, politicians, and advisors to discuss lessons from the global right.

In particular, Pierre Poilievre has been held up as an inspiration to British conservatives in recent years, not least because of his whole-hearted commitment to housebuilding, and putting homeownership back within the grasp of younger voters.

Regardless of how you feel about it, Donald Trump has – in a relatively short space of time – totally reformed and repositioned the Republican Party in the United States, attracting entirely new cohorts of voters to the GOP. Likewise, almost all discussion of the recent German elections focused on the rise of the AfD, but are there lessons to learn for Brits about how the CDU responded? We will also hear from Isabel Diaz Ayuso, president of Madrid and one of the rising stars of European conservatism, about taking on the left and winning.

Of course, we’ll also have Professor Sir Niall Ferguson and George Osborne discussing the state of global and domestic conservatism; one of the co-authors of the 2019 manifesto, Rachel Wolf joining a panel on the policy challenges facing the nation and the right; and we are honoured to have Kemi closing the conference with her thoughts on the future of conservatism.

In short, the Margaret Thatcher Conference on Monday features something for every flavour of conservative. Hopefully, out of the rich stew of ideas and debate, an intoxicating new recipe will emerge.

I hope to see many ConservativeHome readers there.