Failures in Government - Another Letter to the Party Chairman

 

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