Why Conservatives must revive Thatcherism in face of threats from Putin and Reform

How indeed? Government spending is under severe pressure because the drive for the growth needed to generate the tax for increased public spending has, if anything, gone into reverse because of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ rookie manifesto-busting error of slamming up tax first.

And how do both the Labour government and the Conservative opposition deal with President Trump’s chaos theory of international diplomacy?

Scrap Trident, said my fellow panellist, ex-SNP MP Hannah Bardell, herself no stranger to American diplomacy as a former US Consul staffer. Very much at the heart of the SNP manifesto for decades, but when President Trump is at least demanding that Nato allies step up to the plate, disrupting the nuclear deterrent while expecting the US to continue providing the defensive shield would be a treaty-ending provocation.

My admittedly simplistic answer was “from existing government budgets”, and with taxes already hobbling growth and increased borrowing self-defeating, the only way forward is cheaper public services and less government expenditure.

Playing to Conservative strengths

Labour is boxed in by promising no more tax rises and unions who’ve not had to sign up to reforms in return for increased pay, so if meaningful cuts and efficiencies are difficult it should present an opportunity for the Conservatives.

But that will require leader Kemi Badenoch to be quicker than the government to present a pathway and be much fleeter of foot in responding to events and put Labour more on the spot than it already is.

It should play to what were traditional Conservative strengths: a reform agenda (if they are allowed to use that word) with an added urgency that is not driven by ideology but necessity. If it’s accepted that Ukraine must remain a free democracy on the road to Western European integration ─ a moot point for the US ─ there is no time to waste when facing an enemy, Russia, which regards its domestic economy and soldiers’ lives as entirely expendable.

UK’s munitions capabilities

All the attention on Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel’s media round on Thursday was on whether she had criticised President Trump, but her call for the reinvigoration of British manufacturing to improve military procurement deserved more attention.

What are current capabilities? Can British industry really deliver top-quality hardware more efficiently than the current approach? If not, why not, and what needs to be done?

And how can public services be reformed so the user experience is unaffected, but outcomes are improved and money saved?

So what if Labour pinches good ideas? In reality, the Labour movement does not have the stomach for a programme which must necessarily involve tough decisions about public sector jobs and what would be considered heretical changes to health, social care and welfare.

The policy-less party that is Reform will, of course, throw tomatoes at both sides from the sidelines without proposing anything vaguely workable ─ remember ‘send in the Marines to force refugee boats back to France’? But that must just be part of exposing the Faragists as the quick-fix charlatans they are.

There is an opportunity for new Thatcherism if the Conservative party has the vision, speed and courage.