2nd August 2024
Richard Fuller CBE MP
Chairman, Conservative and Unionist Party
Dear Mr. Fuller,
Congratulations on
your appointment as Party Chairman. And thank you for your email dated 14th
July announcing a review into the General Election and, more broadly, into the
Party.
You wrote: “I want people across the Party to have the
chance to say what worked, what didn’t and how we can improve. And as part of
that review I want to hear from you.”
You also wrote: “we lost this election because of how we
conducted ourselves”, which is only part of the story. The real question
is: “why did we lose the election?”.
Therefore please find
enclosed a statement, with two attachments, to address that question and to set
out how the Party can improve. I hope this will be helpful as you rebuild the
Party.
Yours sincerely,
Graham
Why did the Conservative Party lose the General
Election?
We the Conservative Party lost the election because
government policy, CCHQ and the parliamentary party lost touch with
Conservative Principles and Values.
Manifesto promises
such as those on immigration and EU regulation were not delivered.
Nonconservative (anti-growth and nanny state) policies were introduced, and
more were trailed.
A Tory Left emerged that seemed to embrace the “centre-left”
woke philosophy and the pandering to institutions usually associated with the
opposition parties. The government itself moved towards the “centre”, thus
exposing our “right” flank to Reform. It failed to roll back the
liberal-socialist changes of the Blair years.
Therefore many
Conservatives (up to 4 million?) voted Reform UK at the General Election. Many
more found themselves liking much of the Reform UK contract but could not bring
themselves to vote for it; many of those simply did not vote.
Too many voters have
lost trust in the Conservative Party and its MPs. Actions over the past two
years have eroded that trust to a point where a majority is disillusioned. But
the loss of trust started with costly and undeliverable projects such as “net
zero” and HS2. A list of “failures of party in government”* was compiled in
2023 but not updated for the recent torrent of dangled carrots and wishful
thinking. It illustrates the long-term degradation.
Members elected Liz
Truss as leader but neither the “Tory Left” nor the “institutions” were
proactive in supporting her, instead they undermined her. The Bank of England
was, we now know, largely responsible for the crisis, due to its failure to
understand and act on risks such as LDIs and QT.
Rishi Sunak made
promises for his leadership “election” and when appointing Suella Braverman,
which were not delivered. Sunak and Hunt then introduced anti-growth policies
such as raising Corporation Tax and the oil and gas “windfall” tax, while
failing to correct anti-growth policies such as IR35 and the “tourist tax”.
This descended into farce when Sunak claimed that illegal
boat crossings were down when they had increased greatly this year; and
everyone knew it. Hunt’s dangling of the old carrot of inheritance tax reform
was an insult to the intelligence (why now, why so late?). Trust was lost.
There was anger. There was no point in voting for “this lot”.
The Way Forward? The party must remember that it is
empowered by the democratic support of its members. Those members are centred
to the “right” of the Overton window. The “left” will vote for other parties.
Our party must present itself to voters with coherent policies based on
Conservative Philosophy and Values. The common-sense centre-right is an
election-winning majority.
The Way Forward for
the Party is to listen to its members and trust them. The Chair of the Party
Board and senior post-holders must be elected by members and exercise
governance over CCHQ. The MP candidate approval process must be reformed and
Constituency Associations must have more say in the selection and deselection
of their parliamentary candidate. Party conference must be organised
transparently and admit members’ motions for debate and voting.
Attachment: * “Conservatives - Failures of Party in
Government” – a one-page indictment to late 2023
CONSERVATIVES –
FAILURES OF PARTY IN GOVERNMENT
General
- Failure to
implement policies based on ConservaƟve
principles and values
- Policies contradicting Conservative principles and values
- Excess regulation and red tape
- Failure on Brexit
opportunities such as to
reform EU legislation in
UK law
- Windsor framework
with “single market” elements by stealth
- Failure to
recognise fundamental difference between UK and EU legal systems and methods
- Sacrifice of
Northern Ireland
- Surrender of
sovereignty to WHO, ECHR (and other supranaƟonal
bureaucracies)
- Climate Change Act
and Climate Change Committee
- HS2 vanity project
(£100bn+, belatedly curtailed)
- Self-harming
measures in the name of “climate change”
o War on farming
o War on motorists
- War on private
landlords (“green” requirements, section
21 etc.)
- Excess immigration
o Pressure on homes and housebuilding
o Pressure on NHS and social services
- Illegal immigration unstopped (and Channel
taxi service)
- NHS worsening
failures – money pit with no accountability
- Care fees cap
(promise not delivered)
- Attempted anti-free market tariffs on
imported steel
- Ban on bogof offers
on “junk” food and attempted
price cap on basic goods in supermarkets
- Failure to speak up
for women and children subjected to gender extremism
- Failure to manage
civil service
- Failure to focus
Quangos on their core funcƟons
- Failure to focus
Police on policing
- Leadership changes
and witch hunts on senior Party MPs, bypassing democraƟc accountability
- Self-serving leaks
from government and civil servants
- Apparent cover-up
and dishonesty in Cabinet Office Energy
Energy
- No coherent energy
strategy
- Net zero target
with no idea how
- Sunset of petrol
and diesel vehicles
- Sunset of domestic gas boilers
- Tinkering with
short-term targets
- Ban on fracking
- Confiscatory
“windfall” tax on UK oil & gas production,
discouraging new investment
- Inadequate national electricity grid for
forecast demand
- Green levies on
energy bills
- VAT on fuel and
energy bills
- Electric vehicles
based on “zero tailpipe” emissions without regard to whole life
(cradle-to-grave) environmental impact Tax
Tax
- Largest tax take
for 70 years
- Frozen tax
thresholds
o Income Tax
o Inheritance Tax (IHT)
o Stamp Duty
o Average earners to be in upper income tax
bracket
- National Insurance increase
(since reversed)
- Threshold for
highest tax reduced to £125k
- Earlier promise to
abolish IHT broken
- Corporation Tax 25%; sign-up to OECD
floor
- Capital Gains Tax
allowance halved
- Dividend allowance
halved, then quartered
- IR35 reform
reversed
- War on non-doms
- Removal of VAT
refund for tourists
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