Tories ‘must stop ignoring voters if they hope to stay in government’

THE Conservative Party has lost its way and veers between “talking business down” and “ignoring the concerns of voters”, a minister has said.

Sam Gyimah said the Tories had taken on the “mantle of Trumpian economic nationalism” while also reaching for the “old playbook” of cutting taxes and slashing regulation.

Writing in the House magazine ahead of the Conservative Party conference, the universities minister said the party must mount a “full-throated” case for free market capitalism to see off Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader.

He said that while Tories needed to be honest about the failures of capitalism, simply echoing the criticisms of the Left would drive voters away.

“When we veer between talking business down, ignoring voters’ concerns, and telling businesses to shut up – or worse – it is a clear sign we have lost our way,” he said.

“When it comes to our relationship with business, we must unscramble our compass. And whichever side you are on in the Brexit debate, we need to realise that if we are not the party of business, then we are nothing.”

He said the party was at its best when it was “pro-enterprise and pro-endeavour” in a way that made clear the motive was to improve the lot of the ordinary citizen. “If all voters hear from us is an echo of the Left’s concerns, and singing from Labour’s hymn sheet, without an enthusiastic and full-throated endorsement of open markets and without trumpeting our record, we will have only ourselves to blame when they turn away from capitalism,” he said.

“We can’t out-corbyn Corbyn, and if we try, we risk offering a pale imitation that leaves people yearning for the real thing.” He said the party needed to make the case for “reinvigorating capitalism”, adding: “We need to have a true renaissance on the Right, with our thinkers, our musicians, our artists and our politicians bursting forth with new ideas to make the case for open markets.

“Yes, we need to be honest about the failings of capitalism, while making the case that it’s the best system we’ve got. We need to make the case for increasing the size of the national cake, to move up the economic league table, so there is more to share.”

Tory MP George Freeman, also writing in the magazine, warned the party was at risk of becoming “a rump party of nostalgic nationalists”. Capitalism was deeply unpopular among those under 45, he said, and the Tories needed to “reconnect” with these young voters. ♦ Theresa May rebuked James Cleverly, her deputy chairman, for sexism after he asked in an article for House if she consulted her husband for political advice. She replied: “If I was a male prime minister, would you have asked the same question about their wife?”