In his latest column, Mark Littlewood, Director of Popular Conservatism, argues that there are opportunities for Kemi and the Conservatives to improve the way the party’s narrative is communicated if they can pivot from being a policy-driven Parliamentary outfit into more of a story-driven campaigning operation.

Over the past couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to catch up with some current and past Conservative parliamentarians and it’s been interesting to take the temperature and to hear their ideas on how the party should be seeking to rebuild itself.

Unsurprisingly, the mood is not particularly upbeat and there does seem to be a commonly held view that there needs to be a faster rollout of policy positions. I’d echo that position and am in agreement with the thoughts of Robert Jenrick and Jack Rankin, who was a guest in a recent PopConversation. 

However, I have become a little concerned that the unveiling of policy – at whatever speed – is sometimes being treated as the most important club in the official opposition’s golf set.

Of course, the Conservatives need to set out their policy stall and also use whatever powers are at the party’s disposal to hold the Labour government accountable in Parliament.

But I’d argue that an even greater priority is to change the party into a national campaigning machine – the Tories need to be much more than a Westminster presence with a think tank attached.

I’m not talking about campaigning in terms of door knocking, leaflet delivery and canvassing in local council by-elections but rather finding unfolding stories and opportunities which the party can attach itself to.

This is a daunting task. There is a widespread feeling – probably accurate – that the public and therefore the media are not especially interested in hearing anything from the Conservatives at the moment. In so far as there is active media interest it is often around the party’s poor showing in the polls – hardly a news story that is likely to boost the party’s standing.

However, I think there are opportunities for Kemi and the Conservatives to improve the way the party’s narrative is communicated if they can pivot from being a policy-driven Parliamentary outfit into more of a story-driven campaigning operation.

Two such opportunities presented themselves in the last few days.

Outrageously, Lucy Connolly (the wife of a Tory Councillor) remains behind bars. It is hard to find a clearer example of Britain’s two tier justice system and the sentence she faces is completely disproportionate. As the government prepares for the early release those with convictions for violent crime onto the streets, this woman remains incarcerated for an unpleasant tweet. Why shouldn’t the leader of the opposition visit her in prison and highlight this injustice? That wouldn’t require the party to unveil a full length policy on how sentencing policy would change under a future Tory administration but it would send a clear message as to where the Conservatives stand on one of the great controversies of the day.

Similarly, Keir Starmer has now pushed ahead with his surrender of the Chagos Islands. This is a topic where the Conservatives in general – and Kemi, in particular – have been robust in Parliament and over the airwaves. But when it came to attempting to block the move in the courts, it was Claire Bullivant and the Great British PAC who were leading the “lawfare” effort. Why couldn’t the Conservatives have taken the lead here? In the end, the litigation was unsuccessful – but it did have the huge merit of drawing attention to the issue and upturned the government’s plans at least for a few hours.

Perhaps the most successful Conservative-led campaign since the election has been Robert Jenrick’s scuppering of the ludicrous new protocols set out by the Sentencing Guidance Council – he was unafraid to reach for legal action to ram home his point. More such opportunities need to be grabbed with both hands when they present themselves.

It’s a long, long way back from the current electoral position to forming a government. To get there requires not just developing a plan for what a future administration would do but also producing a lot of noise on a daily basis. Turning around the Tories’ prospects will require heat as well as light.

Keep the flag of freedom flying.