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Who is the Conservative Party Fighting For?
- Miranda Jupp
- Jul 3, 2025
- 3 min read
Co-founder of Whole Nation Conservatives Miranda Jupp is a longstanding North East Conservative activist and former council candidate. Prior to the 2024 General Election she was Chief of Staff to Sir Simon Clarke.
Despite the travails of the Labour Government, and some cracks starting to emerge at local government level for Reform as they begin to grapple with running councils, our party is struggling to make headway in the polls. Whilst there is likely an element of hangover from the deep dissatisfaction with the tail end of the last Conservative Government which led to the apocalyptic defeat a year ago, recent polling by More in Common (1) suggests the ‘anyone but Tory’ mood has largely dissipated, with only 10% of people saying they would vote against the Conservatives, compared to 23% who would vote against Labour and 22% who would vote against Reform. It seems much more likely that the problem is an absence of resonant messaging regarding what the party stands for and what we have to offer: Find Out Now’s recent survey on party leaders (2) found just 27% of voters feel they know what Kemi Badenoch stands for (net -48), compared to 61% who feel they know what Nigel Farage stands for (net +22).
It is clear that our party needs to articulate much more clearly why Conservatism offers the best answers to the challenges our country faces, and the best prospects for those seeking to build a better life.
The good news is that the recent fracas over modest proposals to reduce the increase in ballooning welfare spending has offered an opportunity for some clear blue water on one element of this vital narrative. Only the Conservatives have taken a clear line that the country must live within its means, with Kemi rightly highlighting in the House of Commons (3) that all other parties, including Reform, backed measures to further increase welfare spending. With the tax burden already incredibly high (and millions of working people feeling the impact of Labour’s National Insurance rise), there is undoubtedly scope to once again make a clear case that we believe that individuals know better than the state how to spend their hard earned cash. Backing strivers, and calling out skivers, whilst providing support for those in genuine need, is very much a common ground position.
But people also need to feel that working hard brings the realistic prospect of building a better life, and as highlighted by a recent Onward video (4) contrasting the differing prospects of graduates today compared to those entering the workplace in the 1980s. The biggest mistake of the last Conservative government was to give too little consideration to the centrality of those who work hard and do the right thing having a realistic route to building a good life. Other than the benefits of the excellent education reforms undertaken during Gove’s tenure at the Department for Education, and the expansion of the childcare offer for working parents post pandemic, there was comparatively little focus on the needs of younger generations. Far too often, the interests of (admittedly Conservative minded) pensioners trumped the needs of working age Brits: gold plating the pensions triple lock and treating universal winter fuel payment as sacrosanct, even when incomes data started to show older people were no longer the generation in the most precarious financial position, backing away from an honest conversation about social care costs and not following through with much needed planning reform to tackle the highest house prices in relation to incomes since the reign of Queen Victoria.
Conservatism at its best has a holistic approach to allowing all people, regardless of generation or background, the opportunity to thrive. That necessitates consideration of the needs and aspirations of those who have yet to build a good life, as well as those who are already secure. If our party is to rebuild a broad coalition, voters of all ages need to be able to clearly see that our belief in rewarding hard work and offering everyone the opportunity to thrive is central to all our policy decisions - we cannot (and should not) pander to any one group, but focus on how policy can define (and enforce) the rules by which society operates fairly. That will allow us to once more become a party for anyone who aspires to a better life.
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