The Tories are currently polling at 19 percent, according to YouGov — the same number the party was on before almost a quarter of the Labour Party called on its own prime minister to resign over his short-lived appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States.
As Scarlett Maguire, pollster and founder of Merlin Strategy, said: “The Conservatives are in a very difficult position tactically. When they criticize Labour — they spent a lot of time working on the Mandelson story — who did it benefit? It benefited Reform.”
Badenoch and her top shadow ministers think they can turn that around. The Conservative Party now has a plan to rebuild after a devastating loss in 2024. In the latest episode of the Westminster Insider podcast, POLITICO spoke to a dozen senior people in the party about how they hope to pull themselves back from the brink.
Competent, and maybe boring
First up is demonstrated what one senior shadow cabinet member — granted anonymity like others in this article to speak freely on internal matters — described as “boring competence.”
“Cut taxes, cut welfare, change tack on net zero. Three cornerstone things which we can keep banging on about, which will make us the alternative when Labour keep raising taxes and Reform blows themselves up,” they said of the Tory pitch.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride — effectively Badenoch’s second-in-command — disagreed with the “boring” characterization but he admitted: “We’ve come up with robust, properly thought through savings and we’ve recognized we need to stay paying down the deficit and ultimately the debt. Some people may say that’s all a bit dull and boring, but actually coming up with good plans is increasingly important.”