Did Boris Johnson’s speech mark the death of One Nation Conservatism? 

The speech Boris Johnson gave today in Manchester firmly underlined that the Conservative Party, as understood from the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 to the Brexit referendum in 2016, no longer exists. This is a Prime Minister who is effectively the leader of the English Nationalist Party and has more in common with the politics of the Scottish Nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon than of Peel, Disraeli, Churchill, Macmillan and even Mrs Thatcher. 

I say this, not because of what was in the speech, but because of what was not in it. This speech had two audiences in mind, to the exclusion of everyone else. The party faithful on the conference floor and the Red Wall voters in the Midlands and the North. All else was ignored and with it the final nail was hammered into the coffin of One Nation Conservatism. Johnson ignored the south-east of England, suffering under the weight of supply issues, an issue which was blamed on the UK’s business community. There was nothing of substance for Unionists in Scotland, with Ms Sturgeon not even mentioned once. Most tragically, nothing on Northern Ireland, which English Nationalist Conservativism has sacrificed on the altar of Brexit.

The agricultural community, the standard bearer for the shire Conservatives, was derided in two cheap gags: “Build Back Beaver” and “Build Back Burger”. Beaver was used as a totem for the ludicrous and unworkable policy of rewilding 30 per cent of the UK landscape. Burger was an example of the UK being able to do trade deals out of the EU. However, these two crude jokes display a chronic misunderstanding of British farming. The reason why the UK could not export beef to the USA was because of the 1996 BSE outbreak; it had nothing to do with EU trade. “Mad Cow” disease still resides deep in the collective consciousness of British agriculture and to mix the issue up with Brexit trade negotiations is to treat farmers with contempt. That will stick in their gullets. British agriculture is world-leading in terms of innovation and could be the green engine room of UK plc through carbon storage and renewable energy. However, Johnson’s agricultural revolution seems centred on punters pulling on Hunters boots and gawking at beavers.

Boris Johnson claimed he was showing the guts to get things done. Did he show guts when he needed to lock down the economy at the start of the pandemic — or did he dither and delay? Guts to sack his hired gun in the form of Dominic Cummings when things were going very sour — or did he dither and delay? Guts when dealing with social care, a plan which he stated was ready to go when he entered Downing Street — or did he dither and delay? Guts to sort the supply issues we have in our economy, which have clearly been coming over the hill for the past six months — or did he dither and delay?

Look at the unresolved issues we have in the country now — issues that need to be grasped now but are being kicked down the road. Food production is on its knees and will very likely buckle in time for Christmas. The construction industry cannot get supplies or labour and is buckling under its own weight of pent-up demand. The NHS is preparing for a winter of delayed operations and hospitals once again overcrowded with patients. The new health funding from National Insurance is unlikely to come in time or to be enough.

Did the Prime Minister mention any of these issues, except to dismiss them? No. This is the death of One Nation Conservatism. It leaves many millions of people politically homeless. That is a problem for us. But it is also a problem for the Conservative Party.

The British Conservative Party has always been the party of defence and the armed forces. Johnson’s strongest critics from within the Conservative Party have been the likes of Johnny Mercer; military men who have seen active service. There was nothing in this speech to placate this core element of traditional Conservatism. When the military was referenced, it was rammed into a Brexit narrative; it’s just plain wrong to say the Aukus pact could not have taken place if it were not for Brexit. 

All foreign policy is framed through the same old bitter, well-trodden lines about Brexit. This means that anything outside of Lord Frost’s head banging against an EU wall was ill-thought out. When China was mentioned, it was muddled and half-hearted. The passage trying to paint the Kabul airlift as a victory was embarrassing and testament to a Brexit bunker attitude. 

This speech ended any notion of fiscal conservatism in favour of cash for constituencies. Northern Powerhouse Rail, a metro system in Leeds, the North Wales Corridor, link transport schemes from Midland to Northern cities all mentioned in the speech and all examples of Johnson chucking cash into the Red Wall in a hopeful return for votes. But no mention of HS2: the pretence that this is an exercise in levelling up was too laughable even for this occasion.  This was an economically illiterate speech which pointed to a centrally-planned, high taxation economy which will stoke inflation. 

Johnson has always been Janus-like in his relationship with business. He put the success of getting a vaccine down to “greed” but has also been known to remark “F**k Business”.  This was on display in the speech: the business community was blamed for underinvesting in people, skills, and machinery. It was, he implied, the cause of the current supply crisis. Later, it was the wealth creators who Britain needed to fund the Johnson’s revolution. Supply side issues are temporary convulsions blamed on business, no matter how long they last: innovation is greed even if it is driven by not-for-profit elements within corporations and charitable institutions such as universities. 

Lastly, this conference has found most success when dealing with crime and this speech spent a long period dwelling on this area. But English Nationalist Conservatives are unlike their Thatcherite grandparents, who were always stalwarts for policemen and women. When it comes to crime, Johnson and Patel are as likely to attack the police as they are the criminal. This week it was stated that Dame Cressida Dick will be “watched” by Patel, but not supported. This speech supported that theme: if crime is down, it is due to Priti doing well — but any problems are thanks to a police force which needs reform.

So, we have a speech which stood for centralised economic planning, high taxation, misunderstanding of the countryside, lack of support for the Union, business, police and armed forces. And who did Johnson chose as the butt for the most of his jokes? It was that “corduroy communist cosmonaut”, Jeremy Corbyn. The irony is, if you took out the gags, it’s a speech Corbyn himself would be proud of.

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