After a sobering and historic defeat, the Conservatives must find their soul again. How? By Thatcher’s advice: being for things, not just against them, writes Eliot Wilson
The duty of an opposition is to oppose, as Lord Derby declared. Those of us old enough to remember 1997, however, also know that, when a party is turned out by a landslide after many years in office, voters have little interest in what it has to say. Conservatives will absorb that lesson quickly over the coming weeks.
As the Labour Party sets about the business of government, the opposition cannot be idle. There will always be the constituent parts of a centre-right coalition in the British electorate. Equally, though battered and demoralised, the Conservative Party is resilient: it is at least 190 years old, but one could trace its roots back to 1679. So how does it begin a conversation with those voters, earn their trust anew and articulate a vision they will endorse?
There is emphatically no future in an isolated, miserablist approach which puts an arm around the electorate’s shoulders and agrees that the country has gone to the dogs and that the world is full of enemies. Margaret Thatcher may have been stern and demanding, but from the beginning of her leadership in 1975 she understood instinctively that voters needed a vision of what Britain could be like, a future they could hope for and believe in.
“You don’t win by just being against things, you only win by being for things,” she announced. History proved her abundantly right.
People want a government that works, a public sector that delivers services effectively and efficiently, and a political system that is transparent and responsive. Labour has promised much in this regard and has much to prove. But these are basic responsibilities and they are only sustainable if they are underpinned by a coherent philosophy.
The guiding stars of a Conservative vision must be freedom and opportunity. These are intertwined: the government ought to give people as much liberty of thought, speech and action as possible, to use their talents and character to make the most of the opportunities available. That means letting them live their lives as they wish, responsible for spending their own money for themselves, their families and their communities.
We flourish in a free market and an economy characterised by free enterprise. We know this is true: the blossoming of global capitalism has slashed absolute poverty and child mortality, while life expectancy and literacy have soared. Capitalism really is a superpower, with competition and profit driving innovation, efficiency and prosperity. And it works best in a global ecosystem of free trade.
This does not mean a survival-of-the-fittest, laissez-faire Ayn Rand theme park. Education, healthcare free at the point of delivery and a welfare system to sustain those who need help are deep-rooted in British politics and it is the prosperity of free enterprise that pays for them. You don’t tax a loss, you only tax a profit, and the greater the profits, the broader the tax base. Every one of us depends on the profits of British enterprise.
The nation state exists as a defined territory over which its government’s writ runs. We should never seek to be an island fortress but we should control our borders effectively, with an immigration system which reflects the needs of society and the labour market as well as our moral obligation to genuine refugees. That system must be fair but it must be swift so that those who make their homes here can do so and others leave at the end of their stay. There is nothing uncaring in welcoming those who come to contribute and holding out a hand to those who need it. Making realistic, informed, prompt decisions is simply compassionate.
It is hard to argue that the past 20 years have shown the need for more government. The state is usually the most inefficient way of achieving anything, but there are some things only the government can do. Conservatism needs to offer efficient, well-run levers of state to create a safe, prosperous society at ease with itself, in which citizens live and work freely and successfully. We need not a revolution but a revivification of fundamental liberties within the long-evolved traditions of our old country.
Conservatives should govern to liberate and enable. It should respond to the British people when they echo Churchill and say: give us the tools, and we will finish the job.