New thinking

Since the unexpected election result, Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has undoubtedly been on a high, and sought to behave as if it is a government-in-waiting. This should not obscure the fact that its position on the crucial issue of the day – Brexit – has been highly inconsistent, profoundly confusing and disappointing to many of those who supported it on June 8. Yesterday, the party’s position grew even more opaque, when Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would aim to keep Britain in the single market. Only 10 days ago Jeremy Corbyn said the opposite.

Still, there is no denying that many voters, particularly young ones, have been motivated and energised by Mr Corbyn’s brand of politics, wrongheaded and illogical though it may be. This is a challenge that the Conservative Party cannot allow to go unmet. It cannot allow itself the complacent comfort of believing that the age-old clash of political ideologies – socialism versus capitalism – has been definitively won. It must continue to make the case for wealth creation and free markets with popular new ideas that strike a chord.

So today on these pages we begin a new summer series of occasional pieces from Conservative thinkers and politicians proposing sometimes radical ideas on how the Tories can take the political fight to the Corbyinstas. Entitled “Ideas to Win”, the series is begun by Kwasi Kwarteng, MP for Spelthorne, who calls for a substantial housebuilding programme from a Conservative Government that must define a “vision for the future”. Mr Corbyn has shown that idealism goes a long way in politics. It is time the Tories displayed some of their own.