Tory appeal to the working class

Former miner made Conservative chairman by Theresa May is keen to make good on her pledge to govern for ‘ordinary’ people

THE Conservatives must modernise their image to appeal to working class voters in big cities such as Birmingham and Newcastle, the party’s new chairman says today. In an interview with The

Sunday Telegraph, Patrick McLoughlin argues that although some people will always regard the Tories as “the nasty party”, this label is not fair.

He concedes that the Conservatives have not always seemed “interested” in helping working families that are struggling to get by, and says he wants MPs to praise teachers, nurses and other public sector workers more often.

His comments will be seen as clear evidence that Theresa May’s Conservatives seek to occupy the political centre ground and woo Labour voters.

Mr McLoughlin says he wants to win more seats in large cities by offering opportunities to help people from all backgrounds.

His intervention comes as Theresa May begins work on a package of policies aimed at helping the struggling middle classes, rather than the “privileged few”.

ASENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FEW hours after resigning, David Cameron sat down on his sofa to watch the end of his Downing Street career reported on television, seeing Theresa May tear up the Cabinet he had appointed barely a year earlier.

While he may have disliked her decision to sack his friend George Osborne and put his rival Boris Johnson in the Foreign Office, one appointment seemed to please him.

Patrick McLoughlin, a former miner and Cabinet veteran, had been expected to be swept aside. Instead, the 58-year-old was handed control of Tory headquarters as party chairman. At a dinner on the Chatsworth Estate in Derbyshire the next day to mark the 30th anniversary of Mr McLoughlin’s election to Parliament, Mr Cameron declared: “It’s an absolutely magnificent appointment. I don’t think she could have a better chairman than you, Patrick, at her side.”

The backing is significant. Mrs May’s first speech was seen as a break with the elitism for which Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne were criticised. She pledged to govern for “ordinary” people, not “the privileged few” – and Mrs May was the chairman who first warned Tories that they were seen as “the nasty party”.

Mr McLoughlin insists that while that label is not valid, the party must give opportunity to people of all backgrounds, especially the working class. “If you’re not a ‘One Nation’ party you’re saying there are people that you’re not interested in. The Conservative party has got to offer opportunity to everybody, irrespective of their background. I do feel very strongly about that. Now, we may have at some stages not seemed to be that interested, but the core of the party always has been interested.”

Nick Timothy, Mrs May’s new No 10 chief of staff, warned in March that the party’s “most serious weakness” is “the perception that we simply do not give a t--- about ordinary people”.

Mr McLoughlin, who left school at 16 and became a miner and councillor, bristles. “I reject that. I think we do give a t--- about ordinary people.” He concedes that sometimes “we have not been great” in the party’s language.

He flatly denies Mr Timothy’s suggestion that there is “a small minority of people in our party who frankly do not care very much about others” and are only interested in furthering their careers, boosting their finances or defending “class values”.

“I don’t recognise that small minority,” Mr McLoughlin says. “I certainly wouldn’t tolerate those kind of opinions.” He could be regarded as “bold” for taking a top No 10 adviser to task in his first interview as chairman but he has a reputation as a fighter.

In Staffordshire during the 1980s coal strike, he fought to keep his mine open, defying Arthur Scargill. He has endured many political battles since, as Mr Cameron’s chief whip in the Coalition and as Transport Secretary overseeing the HS2 rail scheme.

As chairman, Mr McLoughlin promises to change party procedures, if necessary. Two scandals hit the Tories after last year’s victory – the death of young activist Elliott Johnson and the failure to declare full election expenses, as required by law. When she appointed him, Mrs May told Mr McLoughlin to focus on recruiting and retaining members, engaging people.

He fought for Britain to stay in the EU, saying our thriving car industry could disappear, like mining did. Yet figures from the Bank of England and elsewhere have indicated in recent days that Brexit has so far not delivered the “profound economic shock” predicted. Where is the Brexit recession? “The vote has happened. I lost. I might be proved wrong in the long term. I don’t think within four weeks we can necessarily get a complete, clear picture,” he says.

He concedes “there will be certain things that we can do that we might not have been able to do if we had been part of the European Union”, such as trading more vigorously with the rest of the world. But Mr McLoughlin always argued Europe’s single market of 500 million is critical to the economy. Does he believe voters would accept free movement in exchange for access to it?

“We have got to see immigration fall in this country. That’s the message we got. It’s no good us politicians saying people got it wrong,” he responds.

After her first Prime Minister’s Questions, savaging Jeremy Corbyn, Mrs May was compared to Baroness Thatcher in her heyday. “She was on cracking form,” Mr McLoughlin agrees. “Theresa was certainly firing on all stilettos.” The finest traditions of Thatcherism? “I thought it was Mayism. Do we have an ‘ism’ for her?” he asks. We do now. But what does it mean? “Cool determination. Quite often women can be a lot more determined than men.”

It also clearly means taking the fight to Labour and seizing the “centre ground”. Mr McLoughlin wants the Tories to praise NHS and school staff for “incredibly hard” work in “very difficult jobs” and to see the party expand from the shires to cities, where it is weak. “We have got no councillors at the moment in Manchester or Liverpool or Newcastle and I think it’s a great pity.” Can he learn any lessons from Mr Corbyn recruiting more than 180,000 members to Labour recently, for his leadership election? “It would certainly be nice to emulate it,” he says, insisting Labour will be a threat at the 2020 election.

So are the Tories using Mr Corbyn’s difficulties to park their tanks on Labour’s lawn? “We are parking our tanks on our lawn,” he replies.