Suella Braverman went on the grassroots charm offensive at the Conservative Party Conference; has Rishi Sunak calmed nerves and bolstered Tory spirits; and did you know, Labour is introducing a 'meat tax' (not).
Flying high: Suella Braverman
Suella ‘Bounce Back’ Braverman made her speech to a packed hall of grassroots activists and remained poised despite being ‘heckled’ by former Tory mayoral candidate Andrew Boff. Despite the blue-on-blue battle, she delivered her speech confidently, as she used her speech to identify herself as unequivocally the leader of the right of the party stating that a “hurricane” of immigration was coming to British shores.
Braverman even returned to the subject of last week’s controversial speech in Washington, when she said multiculturalism had failed. Describing “the wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century” to “a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming”, she declared immigration “too high” and “vowed to do whatever it takes to stop the boats and deter bogus asylum seekers”.
It is evident that she is taking up the fight for the right of the Conservative Party and her populist rhetoric will appeal to much of the Tory grassroots – she understands that is the real election she needs to win next year, not the general election that the rest of the UK will be voting in.
Middle of the road: Rishi Sunak
With the polls still projecting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could suffer an immense defeat at the next general election, Sunak tried to convince Tories he is the agent of change and is not afraid to prioritise long-term decisions over short-term gain.
In Sunak’s big speech, he announced scrapping the northern leg of HS-2-Expensive and reinvesting the £36bn into other transport projects. He also put forward other long-term pledges like a smoking ban and an overhaul of A Levels.
For a conference branded as ‘long-term decisions for a brighter future’ it was ironic for Sunak to then immediately scrap a significant part of a decades-planned infrastructure project, especially when it was decided with the short-term aim of drawing major dividing political lines with Labour.
It is evident that Sunak used the conference as an opportunity to relaunch his leadership and paint himself as the candidate of change and Keir Starmer as the establishment. It is ambitious, especially when voters are desiring change and the Conservatives have been in government for the last 13 years.
Despite the miracle Sunak may need to win the next General Election, he certainly proved he is not going down without a fight.
Slowly sinking: Claire Coutinho
Energy Secretary, Claire Coutinho spent much of the conference bashing Labour and ‘short-term Starmer’. She was keen to talk about Ed Miliband and said he has ‘clearly radicalised’ Starmer. These announcements were to the quiet, rather sombre hall, but her lowlight was her repeated reference to a made-up “meat tax” that Labour is supposedly proposing.
Claire was grilled by Sophy Ridge on Sky News’ Politics Hub, where she was quizzed on her Conservative Party conference speech. The clip was flooded with responses on Twitter criticising Coutinho’s remarks. It seems her speech needed more meat on the bone.
But Claire’s approach was not one of isolation and may point toward underhanded tactics that the Conservatives may be happy to deploy ahead of the General Election. Maybe it’s an indication of the desperate situation the Conservatives are in, or maybe it's just politics.