August 12, 2024 - 10:00am

What is it with the Conservative leadership contenders? They appear to have entered into a pact of vapid mutual plagiarism.

Just look at their campaign websites. Tom Tugendhat promises to “unite, rebuild, and win”; whereas James Cleverly says he will “unite to deliver” (while also making clear he’s “ready to win)”. Priti Patel insists “we must unite to win”. Meanwhile, Mel Stride’s slogan is “trust, change, win”, but just in case anyone thinks he might be the disunity candidate, he also pledges to “unite and lead”.

Can we can rely on the insurgent Right-winger, Robert Jenrick, to offer to something different? Evidently not. His slogan is “change, win, deliver”. He then promises to “unite the party”. But, of course.

Only Kemi Badenoch’s campaign website looks like it wasn’t regurgitated by ChatGPT from the other five. It’s also good to see words like “truth” and “responsibility” feature upfront — makes a change from all that unity and winning.

But does the lack of meaningful content matter right now? At this stage in the contest, the candidates’ priority is not winning over the public or even the Conservative membership, but rather their fellow MPs. Early next month, the first set of MPs’ ballots will reduce the number of candidates from six to four. So, until then, the real campaign is taking place, via mobile, on the sun loungers of Europe and the Caribbean.

And yet as they interrupt their colleagues’ holidays, the candidates ought to keep track of opinion back home. Take the latest ConservativeHome survey of party members. Badenoch has a clear lead and is all-but-guaranteed a place in the final four. Jenrick will also likely get through. By contrast, the dutiful, but obscure, Mel Stride is trailing badly.

The middle-of-the-pack consists of Tugendhat, Cleverly and Patel, who must fight it out for the last two places. In terms of their public pronouncements, there’s little to distinguish the three so far. We can only hope that one of them makes a break for it and says something interesting.

The obvious topic is immigration. In 2019, the Tories promised to take back control of our borders, but specularly failed to do so. The six candidates agree this was a terrible mistake — hence all the talk of “getting our act together”, “rebuilding trust” and “delivering for the British people once again”.

But notice how abstract this language is. It completely fails to specify what actually went wrong. The fact that immigration soared to previously unimaginable levels wasn’t due to a momentary lapse of concentration, but deliberate policy choices. Understanding how and why those decisions were made is essential if the Conservatives ever wish to regain credibility on this issue.

Notably, the six candidates include two former Home Secretaries, one former immigration minister and one former security minister. If for nothing else, they’re admirably qualified to debate — in detail — the failures of the previous government.

I’d especially like to see Tom Tugendhat — one of the last orators in British politics — deliver a truly great address on this most important and sensitive of subjects.

In the next stage of the contest — the “beauty parade” — the final four candidates will each deliver a speech to the Conservative Party’s annual conference. It would be an irony if the best speaker didn’t make it that far.


Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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