Luke Graham: Labour’s lack of ambition not only impacts partners and allies abroad, but it also politics at home

Luke Graham was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Ochil and Perthshire South from 2017 to 2019, the candidate in Perth and Kinross-shire in 2024, and a former head of the Downing Street Union Unit.

The Prime Minister’s trip to China in the past week threw up some comical visuals: the PM unable to place himself in official line ups, being fobbed off on a public tour of the Forbidden City and an interview where the PM declared “visa free travel” as the major win of the British-Chinese “reset”.

The trip was revealing, not because it failed entirely, but because it exposed something deeper about the current state of British politics. The awkward optics, weak headlines and the absence of a commanding political narrative were less important than what they symbolised – they reflected a government that has stopped thinking ambitiously about its role in the world.

There were, to be fair, tangible outcomes. Scottish whisky tariffs were reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. Chinese investment commitments were confirmed in Liverpool and London. Thirty-day visa-free travel will benefit business and tourism. These are not insignificant gains. But when set alongside the scale, confidence and strategic framing of recent French and Canadian visits to Beijing, Britain’s intervention felt modest and managerial rather than purposeful.

Combine this with the back and forth over the new Chinese embassy in London, the disastrous Chagos islands “deal” and our lack of a grand strategy, the UK risks being swept along by the leading powers. Our state no longer a symbol of strength and a dependable law-making, but a country undergoing a quiet crisis of confidence.

Now there have been plenty of column inches detailing the UK’s “managed decline”. Far less attention has been paid to something more corrosive — the decline of ambition. Despite our natural resources, the diverse talents of our incredible people and position as one of the G7 economies, our political discourse focuses on muddling through, making minor tweaks – gone are the grand plans or aspirational goals, now we are led to believe we can only improve 0.2 per cent here, 0.1 percentage points more there.

The language of national purpose has been replaced by the language of process.

This lack of ambition ripples through the government, economy, and society. I grew up in the wake of Thatcher’s substantial economic reforms, hitting my teens as New Labour came to power promising to abolish child poverty, “save” the NHS and implement “just and moral” foreign policy through actions in the Sierra Leone and Kosovo. David Cameron came to power offering the “Big Society” and a full programme of economic adjustment to help recover from the 2008 financial crisis, even amongst the Brexit negotiations Boris defined “levelling up” to support forgotten parts of the UK. There is no such programme from this Labour government, a government of middle managers more set on pleasing international lawyers than British citizens.

This matters not just in Westminster, but across the UK. In devolved administrations and parliaments, as well as local councils, the feeling is of survival and modest improvements, not a radical step change to address the UK biggest structural problems.

And this brings me back to China. While we fret about minor planning reforms, protecting the newts and the latest Westminster or celebrity gossip – China is shooting ahead in technological advancements, including AI, placing bets on robotics and other future tech, rapidly changing the experience of its citizens in housing, healthcare, and social programmes. In addition, China has modernised its military and is now producing new destroyers and aircraft carriers at a rate that would have exceeded Britannia in its imperial days. Whether all this progress truly is part of China’s “peaceful development” or not, what is undeniable is that the Chinese government has a grand plan and many ambitions at home and abroad — and a plan to get there.

By contrast, the UK under Kier Starmer is looking back, not forward, although there are pragmatic plans, there are few big ambitions or visions of where the UK could/should be.

The UK could be using its position on the UN Security Council to push for peace in Ukraine more forcefully, it could also be using our Brexit freedoms to build more trade and security deals with the nations of the Commonwealth. Britain has always been geographically small; it has never previously thought so small.

This lack of ambition not only impacts partners and allies abroad, but it also impacts politics at home. If there are no big ideas or grand challenges, what should inspire citizens to back and build Britain? You only have to look at the number of young and ambitious that are now leaving our shores to know the impact is real and truly damaging.

Politically, the lack of ambition is also allowing anti-UK parities to benefit – Plaid Cymru, the SNP and to a lesser extent, Reform UK. These three parties can pitch themselves as “anti-everything” parties, proclaiming that the status quo is broken and only their brand of populism can save Britain. And here we reach the paradox of modern British politics; despite our inbuilt cynicism and distaste for American-style optimism, most people want to vote for ambition, to be swept up in a grand narrative and vote for people who will provide new opportunities and improved outcomes for them and their family. The Conservatives can provide this.

Although Reform UK still lead in the polls, their lead is narrowing (down to 8 pts from 15 pts in November 2025) and the Conservatives under a turbo-charged Kemi have the chance to redefine our national ambitions, ambitions that can revolve around the Conservative values of opportunity, social mobility and thoughtful risk-taking. Entrepreneurialism and empowerment, not the handouts and dependency promised by the other parties.

Last week’s China trip was one visit, but it highlighted once again the Labour government’s lack of vision, ambition and a quiet crisis of confidence.

But as the old Chinese proverb says, opportunity and crisis travel together.