In many ways, James Cleverly may be the consummate ‘small c’ conservative. He’s the sort of man who’ll gesticulate amusingly with one hand while holding a pint of continental lager in the other. He has a domineering presence, but remains unthreatening and avuncular. This was in full effect at yesterday’s Centre for Policy Studies/CapX event at Conservative Party conference.
In an interview with CPS Director and CapX Editor-in-Chief Robert Colvile, Cleverly laid out his case for leading the Tories. His pitch is clear: he has experience, he understands the Conservative Party and he has the right principles. Cleverly’s diagnosis of what went wrong for the Conservatives comes down to them being too easily dislikable.
That feels fair. As Robert pointed out at the beginning of the conversation, the first words that come to people’s minds when they think of the Conservatives are pretty choice. Perhaps Cleverly is the man to shift their vocabulary. Unlike a lot of politicians, he is genuinely funny. He cracked a number of self-deprecating jokes that were very well-received. Communicating with humour can be a powerful thing. This is presumably a big part of the reason why he is, by some measures, currently ahead of the other candidates in the race for public approval.
Being funny and affable is great, but it’s important to tackle the policy as well. As I wrote yesterday following Colvile’s interview with Robert Jenrick, it’s obvious that he’s policy-obsessed. Cleverly’s response to this was clear.
He has a number of ideas. On housing, one of Britain’s myriad chronic issues, Cleverly is all for densification. He appreciates that our housing stock is too low. He’s right. For decades, our restrictive planning system (which has remained largely unchanged since the 1940s) has stifled our ability to build. This has led to house prices skyrocketing – locking people out of ownership. Cleverly then touched on the importance of building beautifully. If you want to get the hordes of Nimbys that populate the UK on board with planning reform, you’re going to have to sell them a vision for Britain they want to look at. This is why Cleverly echoed the sentiment of conservative luminaries like Roger Scruton when he stressed the importance of architecture cohering neatly with the area around it.
On immigration, that other thorny issue, Cleverly took a different approach to Jenrick. When discussing whether he would take us out of the European Convention on Human Rights, he delivered a thoughtful answer. Just as Wellington won the Battle of Waterloo by forcing the French on to a battlefield of his choice, Cleverly argued, he will not be drawn by the likes of Nigel Farage into a political battlefield on which the central issue is our membership of the ECHR. The military history was clearly a personal passion, to the point where Colvile suggested a career in podcasting if the leadership thing doesn’t work out.
The NHS also came up. Much like Nimbys feel that their view of a church spire must be protected at all costs, a great many Britons feel that ‘our NHS’ must be insulated from political and economic reality in the same way. Cleverly, as any politician is basically contractually obliged to say, ‘loves’ the NHS. He spoke about his personal experience with the healthcare service; his mother was a midwife and his wife, Susie, has been battling breast cancer. His ‘love’ for this institution does not, however, mean that he would simply throw money at it in the same way as so many other leaders. It is because he loves it that he is determined to explore bold ways of fixing the NHS’ systemic flaws.
Other policy areas were discussed, but these were the salient issues. The rest of his spiel revolved around Conservative messaging. He correctly identified that, with young people, the Tories have failed to sell their agenda in a way that appeals to them. He spurned politicians who go for Gen Z TikTok edits and incessant references to whatever a ‘brat’ is. Quite right – it’s a patronising and ineffective strategy. After all, Reform haven’t won over all those angry young men by publishing videos of Nigel Farage twerking.
Tone only goes so far, however. While he’s right that young people want a leader who isn’t going to speak down to them, what will really win them over is policy that benefits them. The fact that too many of us can’t afford a home, are having fewer children and are attending crap universities have naff all to do with comms and everything to do with poor political decisions. All of these issues are the result of politicians refusing to implement bold policies over applying short-term political plasters.
Paying lip service to policy is important in a leadership race, even if it’s not really your bag. Some might have appreciated it in today’s event if Cleverly dropped in a stat that wasn’t just what he’d spend on defence. However, what he did cover on the policy front was sound. Whoever wins the race, walking the tightrope between nerd and comedian is going to be essential.
Click here to subscribe to our daily briefing – the best pieces from CapX and across the web.
CapX depends on the generosity of its readers. If you value what we do, please consider making a donation.
