Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links and Sir Andy Street are set to launch a new political movement aimed at persuading Kemi Badenoch to reclaim the centre ground for the Conservative Party and win the support of about seven million “politically homeless” voters.
The former Scottish Conservative leader and the ex-West Midlands mayor will formally unveil their initiative on Monday in a move that piles fresh pressure on the Tory leader to reconnect with the swathes of centrist voters who have deserted her embattled party.
The launch comes at a moment of existential crisis for the Tories, who are reeling from their worst-ever general election defeat and the high-profile defection of Robert Jenrick to Reform UK.
The new movement — the name of which is being kept secret, but is likely to be “Prosper” — will be composed of politicians and business leaders and is seeking to attract thousands of members from across the country.
Its founders insist it is not a new party and will not be fielding candidates at the next election: it is being set up only to influence Conservative policy and leadership by engaging voters who feel neglected.
It comes as new polling by the think tank More in Common reveals that 34 per cent of voters who describe themselves as centrist, or centre-right, say there are no parties that represent their views. Overall, almost one in three voters (28 per cent) say they are politically homeless.
Street, 62, who led John Lewis before entering politics and was twice elected as a Tory mayor in Labour’s West Midlands heartland, said: “The world is fragmenting into populists of the left and populists of the right and the centre ground is being squeezed out. Our argument is that is completely wrong. And actually in Britain, there are still a huge majority of people who have centrist views.”
He added: “We want to make sure that the question at the next general election is not just: ‘Is it Keir Starmer, or Nigel Farage who will be the next prime minister?’ … But actually: ‘Is there a different alternative?’
“As proud Conservatives, we both believe that alternative has to be a Conservative alternative. It absolutely has to be Kemi Badenoch. We’re not in any way fudging that. We want Kemi to be prime minister, but we want the Conservative Party to connect to all of those voters in the centre-right who perhaps it’s not attracting in sufficient quantity at the moment.”
Street and Davidson insist Kemi Badenoch is the right person to lead the Conservative Party
ALISHIA ABODUNDE/GETTY IMAGES
Davidson, 47, who transformed the Scottish Conservatives from a political irrelevance into the main opposition to the Scottish National Party, said the new movement was not about provoking “Tory wars” or a knee-jerk reaction to Jenrick’s defection to Reform. “What we’re trying to do is have honest conversations with voters about what they want and need from a centre-right party in Britain.”
She added: “We’ve identified seven million people who categorise themselves as the centre, or centre-right, who feel that there’s not a political party that represents them.
“Over time, we want them to see that the Conservative Party can be that party. And that’s about engagement work; it’s about working on policy; it’s about making sure that we’re getting out and speaking to people in Cardiff and Edinburgh and Birmingham and Wolverhampton and all these other places. But it’s also about listening and it’s about trying to make policy that will improve this country.”
• Matthew Syed: Kemi Badenoch is bringing Tories back to the light. It’s why I joined
Davidson and Street’s new movement is a direct response to the fragmentation of the right. They believe the Conservative Party’s rightward shift under Badenoch has failed to stem the haemorrhaging of voters to Reform and has further alienated centrists by losing sight of the value of practical, economically sound, non-divisive policies that once made it a broad church.
“I can’t remember a Conservative government that wasn’t a broad church. In fact, you can’t get elected if you don’t get votes from people that previously voted for other parties,” said Davidson.
Asked whether the Conservatives risked becoming seen as a “Reform light” party, she added: “I think that what happens when political parties start to try and borrow each other’s clothes is it suddenly appears inauthentic. Why would you go for: ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ when butter’s sitting right there?”
The duo believe the answer is not to outflank Reform on the right on issues such as immigration, but to reclaim the centre ground by focusing on issues such as housing, job training, infrastructure, trade and taxation, with a particular emphasis on incentivising work, supporting private business growth, and connecting with younger voters.
The pair argued that reclaiming the centre ground was a better strategy than lurching to the right
SUNDAY TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
In particular, they want to see the Conservative Party develop a more “credible, economic” message going into the next election, something that they believe both Reform and Labour currently lack. The Tories have a nine-point lead over Labour on who voters trust to run the economy, according to the pollsters YouGov.
Street said reforming the tax and benefit system to incentivise work, as well as creating “real incentive to set up, grow and invest in your private business” will be among their “guiding principles”. “Those principles have guided centre-right governments for generations … and we are off course,” he said.
Pressed on whether the new movement wanted to make a more positive case for immigration, Street suggested he wanted to “tone down some of the stuff I understand has had to be there in the last 18 months.” He added: “Of course … we’ve got to be far tougher than we have been. But some immigration is required for our economic success and that’s the trade-off we’ve got to flesh out.”
Street and Davidson have told Badenoch’s team about the new movement. “I have not had a conversation directly with her,” said Street. “But we have definitely told her and we’ve had lengthy conversations with her immediate team.”
Asked whether they had given it their blessing, Street responded: “You must ask them.”
However, the signs are already ominous. On Wednesday evening, Badenoch dismissed the idea that Jenrick’s defection was a chance to pivot to the centre, telling MPs at the 1922 committee: “We are the party of the right and we will always be a party of the right.”
Despite her protestations, Street and Davidson are not deterred. Reflecting on the state of the Conservative Party, Davidson said the “pendulum often swings between left and right”; Labour has faced similar struggles. “I’m sure people like Jess Phillips and Wes Streeting felt that they weren’t as connected to the leadership when the party was under Jeremy Corbyn, but they didn’t leave their party. They stayed to make a stronger case.”
Street said he had returned to politics because he thinks “Britain deserves a better choice”.
“There is no question one of the things that’s motivated me to be here is the current government is not delivering … What is also an established fact is that Reform do not have serious answers to these questions. They have soundbites; they have criticisms. And so I thought, ‘right, I need to come back into this arena to try to find a better choice.’”
He added: “The other thing that was driving me was that so often in business meetings, people said to me: ‘I want to come back to the Conservative Party, but I’m not quite there yet’… And so I firmly believe that the Conservative Party will be much more effective in preparing for government next time round if it broadens its appeal.”