For two years or so now, I have been incredibly disenfranchised with the Conservative Party. I felt that from that General Election in 2019 we were anything but Conservative. At first, I just thought it was the COVID pandemic getting in the way of us wanting to actually deliver on what we as a party should stand for such as lower taxation, reduced public spending and ultimately freedom. But as time went on and we were coming towards the end of the pandemic, I realised that our party had shifted to the left and there didn’t appear to be a real appetite for true Conservatism within the parliamentary party.
In September 2022, I thought that the party was back on track. The party membership had elected a leader (Liz Truss) with a vision for Britain. A conservative vision. I’m aware, many will argue her premiership was a disaster. I am not of that view at all; however, people must recognise we had the first Prime Minister since Margaret Thatcher who actually had a plan and a vision of where they wanted to take our country. This obviously came to a very abrupt end in October that same year after a dramatic few weeks.
The instalment of Rishi Sunak soon after for me was the point at which I really questioned whether the Conservative Party was still my political home. How Parliamentarians could think that installing a man that had been rejected by his party just less than 50 days ago was a good look is beyond me. It was yet another signal that the Parliamentary party was happy with a high spend, high tax, and stagnant growth economy. After all, they just crowned a man who had been in charge of this economic program for the past two years.
Now, we are all aware of how this story ended. The Conservative Party had the worst election defeat for several decades. But my view is that it was thoroughly deserved and I’m thankful to the likes of Reform UK and Nigel Farage for helping make it possible. There are so many in the party that think we own the right of centre vote, but the 2024 General Election has proved otherwise, and I have no doubt in my mind that the 2025 Local Elections will yet be another lesson for those that still think we are entitled to those votes.
You must be questioning by this point that how can someone who appears so anti-the Conservative Party is still a member and arguing that he belongs there. Well, it is simple – we must Unite The Right or be stuck with a Labour Government for a decade or even worse, a generation. Therefore, I see it as a patriotic duty to try and argue and persuade within the party that we MUST work with Reform UK and Nigel Farage. Yes, I am just a member, but by speaking to enough like-minded people at party events and conferences, hopefully we can get those with genuine power and influence to take note.
Nigel Farage knows full well that he cannot win alone. Whilst his party has more members than ours, it simply doesn’t have the infrastructure and resources for them to become the next Government, but it does have the power to stop us from winning. It is very simple mathematics that two parties going for the same vote will simply divide the vote and allow the opposition to come through the middle.
We don’t have to officially merge but we must at the very least have an electoral pact where we allow Reform to take the seats they came second in, and Labour won and vice versa. The issue is that if our leader keeps making up false narratives about Reform, the idea of working together and saving Britain from Socialism is getting further from reality.
Ultimately, from where I’m observing Reform is on the rise whilst we are still somewhat stagnant in the polls. This is only going to cost us if we don’t reach out. This is why I will stay within the Conservative Party to argue that we must regain the common ground, work with Reform and save Britain from socialism.
In the general election, I heard the term ‘Conservatives for Reform’ be used – I suppose that’s what I would call myself. If the Conservative Party is to win back power, we must work with Reform and be bold on the issues that matter to people who sit in the common ground.
