Tory modernisers can't rest on their laurels - the job's never done

Where next for Tory modernisation? The first point is that it never ends. The Conservative party could not have survived and thrived as the longest standing and most successful political party in history without continually updating ourselves. Modernisation is one of our most important traditions.

The second point is that modernising is not ideological. Still less is it about making ourselves less conservative or tacking to the left. Indeed, in the 1970s and ’80s modernisation was about detaching ourselves from an outdated corporatist consensus from which particularly younger people felt increasingly alienated.
The third point is that it isn’t superficial or about appearances. It is about showing that we understand the concerns and challenges, the hopes and aspirations, of contemporary Britons. And offering authentic conservative answers to them, that plainly flow from genuine concern for the good of the country rather than our own sectional interest as a party.