Conference could be the start of something better
IT’S RUMOURED that this week at the Conservative Party’s annual conference, Prime Minister Theresa May will make not just one major speech but two.
One on Brexit. One on the direction the government is planning to take over the course of coming months, or years if it’s lucky. If two-speech Theresa turns out to be the case, it will illustrate perfectly the challenge the Conservatives face.
They must appear capable of governing the country in a way which will keep us safe, solvent and secure, and themselves in favour. And they must also show that they can steer the country towards the fairest departure possible from the European Union.
This is no ordinary party conference then. What happens this week has the potential to affect not just the politicians and the party activists milling around in Manchester, but every single one of us.
Also, the Conservatives must be aware that there is only so much rhetoric the public can take. If they want to use this opportunity to set their stall out to the great British public as well as the party faithful, they must choose their words carefully.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will be buoyed up by the slavish adoration he enjoyed at his own conference last week. However, the further lunge towards the left and the failure of any moderate in his party to even put up any kind of defence is doing the best possible job she can under the circumstances. However, my main issue with her leadership is that I do not much care for the fact that she doesn’t seem to understand about social conditions beyond the politics of the vicarage. She is admirable on domestic violence, but too much of what matters to people seems to frighten or confuse her into knee-jerk reactions.
Grammar schools, for instance, are not the answer to every child’s educational needs.
Sadly, by now we have learned not to hope for too much, but I would like to hear that she has listened to those in her party who represent constituencies in less-favoured parts of the country, and is prepared to dig deep and find some compassion for the millions struggling with low wages, zero-hours contracts and mounting levels of personal debt.
There is clearly a serious role for Mrs May herself to play here. But I would like this conference to perhaps show a new way of doing things for the Tories. I know that British politics – and the Labour Party conference certainly proved this – is increasingly a leadership cult.
However, I know for sure that there are many political activists within the Conservative party who have as much idealism as anyone dreaming under the wing of Mr Corbyn.
Let’s never forget that Margaret Thatcher’s entire political mantra was based on the blueprint of a better life for ordinary people.
I would like to hear lots about raising living standards and aspirations, about education and the National Health Service and how the North of England can play a full part in national economic growth. I think this would also do Mrs May a favour; her insecure grip on power has led her to look as if she is clinging on for grim death. It sounds counterintuitive, but if she allows free rein to the widest possible views, ultimately it will strengthen her own position.
She seriously needs to do this. Her own Cabinet and closest Ministers are hardly covering themselves in glory, especially over the issue of Europe.
We go into the conference week with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on the back foot over claims that he hosted a “hard Brexit” event at government expense. It’s hardly the show of unity the Conservative Party likes to put on at this events.
And as for Brexit itself? If the Prime Minister and her party can get all of the above going in the right direction, they might just find that it’s easier to frame our impending exit in something other than negative terms. We are a divided nation in so many ways.
This conference could be the start of finding better ways to bring us together – or it could drive the chasms which threaten to tear us apart deeper still.