Conservatives in opposition must provide scrutiny, support for sensible pro-growth measures and find out what they believe in, says James Price
Having failed to be a very good government, the Conservatives now have an even more difficult task. They have to dust themselves down and find a new leader to build them back up with worn-out tools. Whoever picks up that unenviable mantle will then have the responsibility of providing his Majesty with a loyal opposition, something few MPs in the Conservative parliamentary party have any experience of.
As Dominic Cummings correctly observed, very few in Westminster are actually interested in how to govern or administer the state. Their obsession with media (and later, regicide) came at the expense of parliamentary and departmental scrutiny. There was an amazing director of legislative affairs in No10 called Katharine Howell who is one of the few people in Westminster who actually understands parliamentary procedure – and if there’s anyone left at Conservative Campaign Headquarters to read this, they should try to re-hire her fast.
Scrutinising legislation, much of which is bound to be rushed and poor, is a crucial task for our parliamentarians and essential to the health of our country. Using the few opposition day debates they will get, and asking the right questions in the right ways, will be some of the best ways the Conservatives can get themselves into the public eye. More importantly, it might even help start to rebuild our shattered reputation for competence.
The Tories also need to get smart beyond parliament. Part of the process of choosing a new leader should involve working out what they actually believe in. Much will be said about this elsewhere, but its relevance to providing an effective opposition is highly important. They must not just oppose everything Labour does just for the sake of it.
For example, no sane centre-right party should be objecting to the building of data centres on former landfill sites next to one of the country’s busiest road when said country claims to want to be an AI superpower. Yet one backbench Conservative who has squeaked back into parliament cheered Buckinghamshire County Council’s refusal of planning permission for just such a project. Labour has overruled that decision to try to get it built and the Conservatives should back them. Only a party that wanted to speed-run its way to utter irrelevance would do otherwise.
The same is true of Labour using the power of the state to just sweep away the onshore wind ban. As Sam Dumitriu of Britain Remade has pointed out, Ukraine has built 12 times more wind capacity than Britain since Putin began his invasion. In this instance, they should quietly note down that a party in power can actually do things if it wants, and not have to ‘engage with key stakeholders’ or jump through interminable white papers and consultations.
Another reason it will be so important for the Tories to get good at opposition, and fast, is that there are plenty in the media who won’t. The rapturous reception the new government has received from ‘centrist’ journalists has been nauseating. To nick a good joke off Twitter, you can imagine a write-up praising Sir Keir Starmer for starting an early morning speech with ‘good morning’ as excellent comms.
This breathless enthusiasm used to be reserved for Soviet premiers who would shoot the first person to stop clapping. The shine will come off this kind of propaganda eventually but until then the Tories will have to accept that their unpopularity means they will be given much less of a fair hearing for some time.
Finally, the Conservative parliamentary party needs to get interested in ideas again. Having been forced to perform ideological volte-faces with every new leader, Tories no longer know what they believe in – and it shows. Helpfully, the one bit of the right-wing eco system that is still strong are the think tanks. Tory MPs (not to mention City A.M. readers), are welcome to head down to the “Tufton Swamp” and marvel at the bright young things brimming with ideas. The new opposition might even discover something there worth fighting for.
James Price is a former government advisor