Charles Martin is an award-winning business student with political experience. He is reading Law at the University of Exeter.
Rumours have been circulating that Tory MPs are calculating ways to try and get Boris Johnson back in the fold, not even a year after the most recent leadership election.
Writing for ConservativeHome in December, I explained why the party must trust the process with Badenoch at the helm, and why areas such as policy development have to be given the necessary time after such a catastrophic election defeat. I also explained the need for credibility to be restored – this calls for stability at the top and for the position of Conservative Party leader to be a permanent position again.
In government changing leader became an all too regular occurrence and played a significant role in the party’s downfall. Now, in opposition while we evaluate what went wrong we must acknowledge that changing the leader of our party shows a lack of conviction in what we believe in.
Looking back at when our party was last in opposition our transition into government under Cameron was no easy feat – it took belief in a new leader which many were quick to write off, with the party being in a similar situation in the present day. The party has become too brash with pivotal decisions and needs to reinvigorate this belief in the party leadership – the leader which was democratically elected by the party members. The months of build up for the leadership elections turn futile if the parliamentary party creates a habit of triggering a vote of no confidence in overreaction to the smallest hiccups from the leadership.
The whispers of Boris returning are most definitely in response to Reform UK running rampant at the local elections – the first real indicator of the electorates’ reaction to the Reform party machine in full effect – which has alarm bells ringing in the Conservative parliamentary party.
On paper it makes sense – who else to keep Reform at bay than the man capable of performing political miracles such as smashing through the Labour red wall? In reality, and in relation to where the party finds itself as of right now, the prospect will most likely do the party more harm than good.
Let’s review what will happen if this rumour were to actually materialise.
The issue of credibility – which is currently in a fractured position – will get to the point of no return. Changing leader yet another time shows a lack of conviction and that the Tories are not a serious choice for government. It is crucial to let the electorate know that the countries’ leadership will be in a stable position if they were to vote for them. The road to gaining this trust back is already steep and is down to many issues which aren’t directly in the Tories’ control, so once again damaging this progress on something which is in the parties’ control is absurd.
If Boris were to return, the partygate scandal – which led to Johnson’s downfall in the first instance – would be latched onto by the media once again. Going back to the start of the Tory party’s issues seems to be another example of a self – destructive mission which must be avoided. That’s not to say that Johnson doesn’t offer some great attributes, especially in times of election campaigns – hence why Sunak put aside their differences to get Johnson at the final rally of the general election as a last Hail Mary. The optics to actually get him back at the helm simply do not make any sense logistically.
There is also a question here of whether the faction of the party which is not content with Boris returning will trigger a vote of no confidence of their own and continue the never-ending cycle of temporary leaders. For the Conservatives to have any prospect of returning to government this habit needs to stop and whilst the parliamentary session is still young. This gives Badenoch enough time to establish herself and the shadow cabinet as a serious choice at the next election.
There is a lot of noise about the lack of policy plans coming from Badenoch – however this is just another necessary step in the Conservatives creating a credible programme for government to put before the electorate at the next general election.
The first years of this parliament must be used for policy development, not policy announcements – doing otherwise would be a brash choice to make in response to such a catastrophic loss at the last election.
This means that Badenoch must be given the time to develop such policies, as with Cameron and Osborne in 2005, instead of having to fear of infighting in the party ranks. Major policy announcements should be used sparingly but with great effect, such as at party conferences to come in order to demonstrate that the conviction within the party has not completely decimated.
The Conservative Party is meant to be the party of pragmatism and common sense – this must be restored into the party characteristics to have any chance of taking the battle to Labour and Reform.
