Kemi Badenoch and Conservative Renewal

Perhaps the last hope against the political desolation of British conservatism.

Since writing the following thoughts at the start of November, events have not yet diminished my conclusions. Cautious optimism remains the correct course of action, simply because there is no home for sane conservatives in Reform, but the Conservative Party nonetheless has everything to prove if it wants power anytime soon.

The tortuously long Conservative Party leadership contest has reached its conclusion, and Kemi Badenoch has been elected leader on a platform of explicit party renewal. Although Robert Jenrick appeared the stronger candidate, Badenoch is certainly able to face the task before her of rebuilding the natural party of government. Both final candidates, idiosyncrasies aside, broadly share an outlook of the need to adapt the Conservatives and ultimately the conservative political ideology to the country’s present situation. Given the last election has spawned the worst nightmare of every sane thinking conservative in Reform, it is no longer enough to merely describe why Labour is wrong in order to win, despite the general ineptitude of their government; the Conservatives must decisively articulate how they alone are correct on the key issues facing the country. The details of this will determine their fate. Badenoch should be received by conservatives with a cautious optimism for the potential of her leadership, but this should be a qualified acceptance awaiting the outcome of certain considerations over the next couple of years. These will be outlined briefly in the following paragraphs.

First, the future policies of the Conservative Party. Badenoch, quite reasonably, chose not to centre her leadership campaign on policies that can only be implemented in an uncertain future after the next general election. Nevertheless, this is not the only election the Conservatives need to contest, for there are several local and devolved elections in the intervening period. It is perhaps inevitable that the Conservatives will lose some council seats next May from their relatively high watermark in 2021, but they must have something to offer voters to stem the potential flood of losses to other parties. This need not be comprehensive, as local election programmes rarely are, but enough of an indication of future intentions so the party does not utterly fail in the quasi-referendal dimension of these contests. Just as the Conservatives managed to cling on to a significant presence in Parliament, it is vital they achieve the same for as many localities as possible to ensure the best chances of future good government in the country.

Second, the shifting nature of the governing ideology. In certain media appearances, Badenoch has positioned herself as the guardian of classical liberalism within the party. Some commentators have been aghast at this, whereas others have lauded her as the next Margaret Thatcher. Neither reaction is wise, as Badenoch possesses ample individuality to rightly chart her own path. However, the truth is that for nearly 140 years classical liberalism and straightforward conservatism, by a sheer accident of history and the subsequent exigencies of Westminster politics, have been conjoined under the Conservative and Unionist labels. Every leader, save for the now defeated progressive liberal modernisers, has emerged from some incarnation of either side. Hence, the party operates most effectively when these somewhat competing interests subsist in a creative or constructive tension with one another, with the potential excesses of both restrained, rather than attempting to dominate or destroy each other. It is quite apt and hopeful, then, that the two final leadership candidates represented both sides, were the most reflective of the six who initially stood and are willing to work with each other going forward. Given the general election defeat, the governing ideology will change accordingly, but we will not know its crystallised expression under this leadership for some time. In the meantime, there remains a number of more intellectual figures within the Conservative Party’s orbit, championing both traditions of thought, whose pursuits ought to be encouraged for the sake of political education and future ideological formation worthy of the venerable Conservative label.

Lastly, the place of an engineering mentality in politics. This is an interesting dynamic from Badenoch’s background, now brought to the leadership, and one she credits for providing her an understanding of why aspects of the state need change. Indeed, this may prove useful in executing necessary improvements to the internal mechanisms of the party and government alike, both of which have been left wanting in recent years. For an instance from the latter, the planning system established by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 has visibly broken down, evidenced by the absurd delays it causes to many worthwhile infrastructure projects, yet most politicians lack the will or inspiration to remedy this state of affairs beyond marginal tweaks. However, there are limitations to this more rationalist approach to politics, as best explored by the philosopher Michael Oakeshott, when reforming institutions becomes reform of the constitution. Coupled with this is the disturbing notion in her campaign literature that past solutions to present problems are somehow invalidated by their vintage, and that to accede to accumulated wisdom on a point would necessitate forcibly dragging all society back to a prior point in time. It should be obvious that fully indulging rationalist tendencies goes against the grain of the entire conservative tradition, the lack rather than abundance of which in the party has contributed to its current predicament. The extent to which Badenoch’s experience in engineering will be applied during her leadership remains to be seen, just as the other issues discussed.

There is a fair chance from the outset that Badenoch’s tenure as Conservative leader will be relatively successful, possibly extending to a future as Prime Minister. To some extent, the only alternative to this optimistic vision is the extinction of the Conservative Party, thus the collapse of the traditional centre-right in Britain to populist upstarts as in other Western countries. This alone should be reason enough to support Badenoch, though not dogmatically, yet the onus is on the Conservatives to demonstrate why that argument is more persuasive than it currently appears to potential voters. Either way, if she can now consolidate her support, this leadership will surely be observed with a keen interest and even an eye towards posterity at this juncture in Britain’s modern political history.