Party conferences 24: Conservatives

The party conference season has come to end, and I’m personally looking forward to heading home. It is important however to unpack the messages coming out of the Conservative party conference held in Birmingham this week, as the party takes on its role of the official opposition for the first time in 14 years.

While many were expecting a sombre mood from the conference, it was actually far from it, with more members attending, a general sense of an excited buzz and the occasional pocket of cheering. This was largely due to the leadership contest, with the final four candidates' representatives plugging away at delegates for their support. There was also an amazing selection of merchandise, I came away with some Tom Tugendhat branded sweets, but sadly missed out on a “Bobby J” (Robert Jenrick) hat.

The leadership contest took most of the media attention for the three-day event, with the candidates appearing on numerous panels and each getting an opportunity to speak in the main hall. The parliamentary party will get to vote again next week (9 October) narrowing the field from four to two, before voting opens to the Conservative party membership until the 31 October. The new leader of the party will be announced on the 2 November.

Away from the hubbub and campaigning, there were lots of interesting policy discussions happening in the fringe tents of the conference. In terms of agriculture and farming, there was concern from the former Secretary of State Steve Barclay (who now has taken the shadow position), on whether the agriculture budget will face cuts. He displayed some admirable frankness when explaining an underspend during his leadership, citing teething problems with Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes and the disruption of having personnel changes at Defra.

Net-zero and renewable energy was the polarising topic with the Conservative membership. Many argued for people to “get on with it” but it was also opposed by some who argued that it shouldn’t be at the expense of the areas who have to host energy infrastructure. Former minister for energy Graham Stuart stated that the current government needed to look again at community benefit, where an area that hosts more electrical infrastructure receives a real time discount on their bills.

CLA External Affairs Director Jonathan Roberts spoke on a panel for the Rural Conservative Forum, alongside shadow Rural Affairs Minister Robbie Moore. The event focused on “how can the Conservatives win back the countryside”, with Jonathan highlighting how the party had failed to communicate the good work it did on the environment. He added though that the party had gone 'nowhere near enough' to unlock the potential of rural communities. Robbie Moore equally highlighted the rural economy and argued that changes needed to be made on how rural policy is developed to ensure that it isn’t always an afterthought.

In some ways, it felt like the scale of the defeat that the Conservatives faced in July hasn’t sunken in yet. The party needs to rebuild and find a way back to their rural base, and the only way to do that will be to provide a solid opposition with a sense of vision and competency that many felt was lacking at the end of this parliament.