The Tories may have won the general election but that doesn’t mean they have won the argument. The Good Right, a project setup by Times columnist Tim Montgomerie, hopes to offer guidance on where the Conservative party can go over the next few years. Last night, Montgomerie hosted a dinner at Old Trafford to examine what Conservatives are doing to tackle poverty featuring four of the most interesting thinkers in the party — Michael Gove, Iain Duncan Smith, Sajid Javid and Ruth Davidson. They all argued that the Tories need to do more to show their compassionate side as well as understand why people dislike them.
Each of of the speakers had different areas of emphasis but the broad message was the same. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said ‘everyone runs scared of family and marriage in particular’ and urged Tories to say and do more about family life, revealing that the Prime Minister has asked him to examine every area of government policy to see ensure it doesn’t ruin families.
Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, said Labour’s commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of GDP on international aid should be admired but admitted ‘not every Tory agrees with that emphasis’. On expanding the state, Javid said the only thing he’d like to see is ‘make it even easier for someone to start a business or be an entrepreneur’.
Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, agreed with the other speakers that inequality was a problem because ‘it sets communities against each other’. She said the greatest achievement of this government was tackling unemployment, ‘in spite of what the Danny Blanchflowers of this world said’, but argued there was much more to be done on youth unemployment.
But it was Michael Gove who encapsulated what the Good Right is about. The Justice Secretary cited mental illness, addiction and drug abuse as the main issues facing our society. But for the Tories to have a successful future, Gove argued ‘we need a dividing line between the deserving and undeserving rich’. Whereas Javid said ‘equality of opportunity’ should be the most important issue, Gove argued that the Tories must not be seen to be slavish to the rich. Judging by the hatred on the streets of Manchester, this image is still one that needs to be tackled. If the Tories really want to be a One Nation party, they need to be seen to represent the whole of society. The ideas expressed by the Good Right would be a good starting point
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