Why return of James Cleverly is huge news for Tories' fightback against Reform
James Cleverly’s recent trenchant criticism of populist calls to ‘smash the system’ demonstrate why he is someone who can take on the Conservatives’ biggest threat – Nigel Farage’s Reform UK
Last month, pollsters YouGov published the results of their first ‘multilevel regression and post-stratification’ poll since the general election. A statistical modelling technique that combines a large poll – in this case of 11,500 people – with census data and other sources of information, it is designed to produce a more comprehensive picture of the nation’s views than ordinary surveys.
Its findings suggested the Conservatives – long claimed to be the world’s most successful political party – are effectively facing extinction as a serious political force. The poll found Reform UK would win 271 seats, Labour would get 178 and the Liberal Democrats 81 if a general election was held then. The Tories, who just six years ago won 365 seats, would be reduced to 46 MPs.
This is the scale of the challenge facing party leader Kemi Badenoch. In this endeavour, she must realise that repeatedly agreeing with Reform has been driving the Conservatives’ decline and they need to start campaigning against Nigel Farage and co with all their might.
‘Complete nonsense’
So the news that former Home Secretary James Cleverly is to return to the Tories’ frontbench as Housing Secretary is welcome, as he is one of the few heavyweight figures willing and able to take on Reform.
Appearing at the Institute For Public Policy Research think tank last week, he dismissed calls to “smash the system” and replace the civil service with an “anti-woke, right-wing” alternative as “complete nonsense”, saying: “It’s excuse-making and it’s weak.”
He also urged his party to reject climate change “luddites” – a favourite Reform slogan is ‘net stupid zero’ – and warned Farage’s new army of councillors in England would soon suffer from scrutiny of their actions in government.
If the Tories continue to chase Reform, only oblivion awaits. The party needs strong, sensible voices capable of standing up for true Conservative values like ensuring a strong economy, law and order, and the preservation of institutions, including the civil service.
In Cleverly, they have a politician capable of doing that, but whether it is all too late for the Conservatives remains to be seen.
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