The caring party: Theresa’s plan to rebrand the Tories

THE Conservatives will seek to re-brand themselves as the caring party after their disastrous general election campaign.

Backbenchers have been told the party will concentrate on issues such as the environment and animal welfare after internal polling showed they were seen as uncaring.

Tory MPs have been told to push the message that they will help young people get on the housing ladder, improve school standards and tackle rogue businesses. But the party will no longer concentrate on its record on the NHS because it accepts it can never beat Labour on what voters see as the rival party’s turf.

Details of the new priorities emerged after MPs were invited into Downing Street for a briefing on the party’s future from Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s chief of staff.

The campaign to ‘build a Britain fit for the future’ will concentrate on seven themes, from getting the ‘best Brexit deal for Britain’ to ‘tackling injustices’. A briefing document states: ‘Underpinning all this is our commitment to protect our environment, so we leave our planet in a better state than we found it.

‘By delivering on all of this, we can create a country with a stronger economy and a fairer society, one that will guarantee a better future for the next generation.’

One Tory MP said they had been told that internal party polling had found that the Conservatives came across as ‘not caring enough’.

And while they came across as the party of the economy, they were not seen as the party of jobs. Rather, they were seen as the party of Sports Direct, a reference to the chain run by controversial businessman Mike Ashley that has been accused of giving staff poor working conditions.

The briefing document on the Tories’ key messages reveals they will campaign on standards in schools rather than pledging to put in extra money, the document hints. And the NHS gets only the briefest of mentions.

Point one is ‘getting the best Brexit deal for Britain’ – guaranteeing the ‘greatest possible access’ to European markets, boosting free trade across the world, and ‘delivering control over our borders, laws and money’.

The Tories will also pledge to ‘take a balanced approach to Government spending’ by reducing debt, investing ‘in our key public services like the NHS’, and keeping taxes low.

The third point is ‘helping businesses to create better, higher-paying jobs’ with a modern industrial strategy. This is followed by ‘building the homes our country needs, so everyone can afford a place to call their own’ and ‘restoring the dream of home ownership’.

Next comes ‘improving standards in our schools and colleges’ so young people have the skills they need ‘to get on in life’.

Sixth is ‘backing the innovators who deliver growth and jobs’ – but ‘stepping in when businesses don’t play by the rules’.

The last key point is ‘tackling the injustices that hold people back from achieving their true potential’.

Tory MPs will also be encouraged to claim that ‘Jeremy Corbyn and his top team break their promises, and they don’t live up to their rhetoric’.

‘Tackling injustices’