Tories must win back trust of British people
I want to be completely open about what I’m doing. I am not just running to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
I am running to be the next Conservative prime minister.
That is what this leadership election is all about: winning. We can’t serve the British people if we don’t win the next general election. We can win it. We must win it. I can lead the party to that victory.
A lot of people try to make politics complicated. It’s not. Let your values tell you what you should do. Tell people what you will do. Do it. That’s it.
Everything else – the jobs, the titles, the trappings, the theories, the pamphlets, the gurus, the whispers and the briefings – forget it. None of that matters to the people we work for. They want us to say what we’ll do and do what we say. End of story.
Clever people have already written a million complicated words about why we lost that election, but I can do it in one: trust. We lost the trust of the British people, because we didn’t do what we said we would.
The second part of that sentence is very important. It contains an important truth for Conservatives. The public wanted the things we promised: lower taxes, lower immigration, more control over their everyday lives. Those are conservative ideas. We just didn’t deliver.
That’s not a story of Left or Right. It’s not a story of factions or families. It’s a simple truth. The British people wanted control – over their lives, streets, borders, trade and much more – and instead we lost it. We couldn’t deliver because we were too focused on fighting each other, not on delivering for the people of this country, the families who rely on us to see our promises through.
Some people think the Conservative leadership election will be divisive, splitting the party. That’s wrong because actually, there’s a long list of things this election isn’t about.
The ECHR. Gender. Tax rates. Defence spending. Net zero.
These are things that aren’t up for debate in this leadership election. Why not? Because politics is about principles and all Conservatives are guided by our basic principles here.
We know that if institutions do not serve the British people and make it harder to control our own borders, then we will have to exempt ourselves from them, or leave their jurisdiction. We know what a woman is. We all want lower taxes. We all know national security must come before Treasury spreadsheets. We all know that energy security and household bills come first.
These are common-sense Conservative positions. They are non-negotiable for me and, I would hope, for anyone else who puts themselves forward. Every one of the other candidates in this race is a good Conservative. I am proud to call them colleagues and friends and together we will form the team that wins the next election.
Compare that with Labour in government. It’s been less than a month and they’re squabbling. The Left is fighting with the Soft Left on welfare. Angela is sad that Rachel stole her housing announcement. No one likes Ed. An apparatchik called Morgan is arguing with an apparatchik called Sue about who gets the big desk and who gets to go to summits.
And when they’re not squabbling, they’re taking every opportunity to make the state bigger.
One Parliament of this will be dreadful, and we owe the British people an apology for letting them down. Two terms would be a national disaster, which is why we must listen, change, and stop them winning the next election.
The key to victory is that simple word: trust. We must win back the trust of the British people by putting our trust in them. By fighting every day to allow them to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Fighting to let them keep more of their money. Fighting to let them have a say about how their communities look and feel. Fighting for them to be able to run their businesses, drive their cars and heat their homes without a socialist in Whitehall trying to tell them what to do.
We must secure our country’s future for the generations of today and tomorrow. That means facing some home truths - 3 per cent of GDP is a small price to pay for our continued freedom and security. Our tax system must support families, savers, and growing businesses, not punish them. Our planning system must allow cities to grow upwards, not outwards, becoming more beautiful and more productive. It means using nuclear power to cut household bills. Fundamentally, it means rethinking regulations that stop savings from building the community and economy our children and grandchildren need.
What qualifies me for this job? Well, I live by a simple rule. If I say I’ll do something, I do it.
I swore to serve King and Country, so I fought our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. I fought them again in government as security minister under two Conservative prime ministers. I didn’t win every argument I had then, but I won the important fight, to keep the country safe from terrorism. I said I’d stand up to dictators, which is why China’s Communist government has sanctioned me, hacked me and targeted me.
Politics, like life, comes down to one simple rule: keep your promises. When the Conservative Party does that, it wins.
And the Conservative Party can win the next election. Trust me. I will make it happen.