Emma Best: Wets, nutters and everything in between

Emma Best is a London wide London Assembly Member and a councillor in Waltham Forest.

I have always been amused by the left’s obsession with ideological purity. Momentum at war with Labour more often than with their opposition, Keir Starmer dismissed as a right-wing plant and Jeremy Corbyn accosted at the Your Party Conference for being too pro-Israel. All symptoms of a mindset which allows for zero compromise and rationalisation.

It is these instances of intolerance of thought that have always made me proud, and somewhat relieved, to be a Conservative. I enjoy being a part of a City Hall and Council group that are representative of a broad church of centre-right opinion. I want to campaign for candidates even if they have fundamental differences to me on some policy areas as I (and the vast majority of Conservatives) understand that we agree on 80-90 per cent of life’s core questions and are not each other’s enemy.

We’ve watched the left tear each other apart time and time again; fighting in factions with a more visceral hatred for those in their own circles than outside.

It frustrates me therefore that we are falling into this trap. Increasingly I see good Tories dismissed as ‘wets’ or ‘nutters’. Not in a jovial way, but in a concerted bid to distance ourselves from each other. This attitude might fulfil left wing ideals of political purity but it won’t win elections. If some on the right want this approach fine; but let it not come from us.

These assessments are also flawed. We are humans after all, with a complex myriad of evolving and sometimes conflicting opinions. Without long and personal discussions assertions of others political compass are a stab in the dark.

The fact of the matter is when you look at our recent successes the political personalities are diverse. In Scotland success came through the charisma of Ruth Davidson, in shires and rural villages we owe much to those that espouse traditional values like Jacob Rees-Mogg and in the West Midlands the pragmatism of Andy Street. Of course, the first-time Tory voter of 2019 was often successfully attracted by stoic Brexiteers like Mark Francois, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Steve Baker, David Davis (and yes, Boris Johnson).

Do not dismiss these politicians as wet liberals or right-wing nutters. They are all pillars of conservatism.

It is easy to acknowledge where scepticism of broad church values arises from though. In the 2015 General Election a key pledge of the Conservative manifesto (against the backdrop of overwhelming euro scepticism) was a Brexit referendum. To stand as a Tory at that election without realising you may have to enact a decision to leave the EU would have been idiotic. The alternative, willingly standing knowing you wouldn’t, is much, much worse. This is a mistake Kemi Badenoch has certainly learned from by making it clear that any candidate at the next election will have to agree to leaving the ECHR. Clearly on key manifesto pledges, with substantial public mandate, there are red lines of agreement.

As Badenoch gradually makes inroads in both popularity and the polls many would do well to remember TikTok likes don’t win elections. Vibes or radical opinions court engagement but there are no prizes for proving an undying allegiance to one nation conservatism, Thatcherism or popularism. The only prize is winning elections and serving the people of Britain. We can only do that together.