Theresa May started her campaign as a cross between Boudicca, Margaret Thatcher and the Queen of Sheba – she finished it a loser and utterly diminished
Theresa May started the election campaign seen as a cross between Boudicca, Margaret Thatcher and the Queen of Sheba. She ends it utterly diminished: a winner who has lost.
Just over two years ago I wrote my last speech for David Cameron, following his victory in the 2015 election. The mood in Downing Street was jubilant. The Prime Minister’s office was an orgy of hugging, the corridors full of people popping open the bubbly.
The mood yesterday would have been closer to a morgue. Right now the PM’s advisors will be locked away her office, wondering how on earth they can reclaim authority when it has been so pitifully lost.
They must start with a change of tone, dialling down the arrogance that led to this result.
Since Mrs May came to power she has treated her party with high-handed haughtiness. Ministers like George Osborne and Michael Gove were brutally ejected despite being the most able politicians of their generation.
May promoted her pet favourites on account of loyalty, not talent. And when it came to the campaign, it was run as though Mrs May was the only Tory in town.
In some ways she has been operating like a knock-off, cut-price version of Margaret Thatcher. But May is no Maggie. This arrogance is a terrible error. She urgently needs to show more humility – humility that was sorely lacking in her Downing Street speech yesterday.
Where was the apology for spending tens of millions on a pointless election? Where was the admission that the country was bitterly divided? Instead of acknowledging the result she acted as though she hadn’t heard it.
But business as usual just won’t wash now.
She must show humility in bringing the most talented politicians back into the fold – starting with Michael Gove. He is fiercely intelligent, a brave reformer, the man who took on the teaching unions to transform Britain’s schools. Gove can run rings around many of those now in Cabinet.
Leaving him on the backbenches is an arrogant waste – indeed his wisdom might have been useful in saving this dire campaign. May might have rowed with him in the past but she should climb down off her high horse and re-appoint him now.
Next she must change the way she speaks to the public. More straight talking, less sloganeering. Voters are sick of being fobbed off with empty phrases like “strong and stable”.
I am very clear that starting every sentence with “I am very clear” only clarifies the limited abilities of the speaker. Credit the British people with some intelligence and ditch the vacuous slogans.
In some ways she has been operating like a knock-off, cut-price version of Margaret Thatcher. But May is no Maggie. This arrogance is a terrible error.
Most importantly, Government policy needs a much tighter focus. Yes, Brexit is absorbing a lot of attention – but yesterday’s result showed that voters, particularly the young, are yearning for bold action elsewhere.
She talked in Downing Street of putting “fairness and opportunity” at the heart of everything the government does.
But where’s the beef? Young people want action on three fronts: help to get the right skills, help to get a job, help to get a home of their own.
Instead of wasting time on foxhunting votes and other distractions there must be a laser focus on these three issues.
On education, the grammar schools policy should be ditched, sharpish. It is divisive, backward-looking and a distraction from the central task of improving schools for all. The Gove reforms that are taking root must be continued.
More money should be put into high-level apprenticeships, offering skills every bit as valuable as a university degree. And if May was brave she could have a big, bold new policy to give everyone in the country the chance to improve their qualifications, even those who missed out at school.
Call it an Opportunity Grant: a sum of money to be spent on improving their skills, whether that’s a carpentry course or engineering qualification.
Yes, it would cost – but it would be an investment in the skills of the nation and a shot in the arm for millions.
When it comes to jobs, May inherited a golden legacy from Cameron. On his watch Britain became a job-creating machine, with millions of new private sector jobs created – not that you heard about that in this campaign.
The Prime Minister must re-double efforts on this front, doing everything possible to help businesses grow and create jobs.
That means talking less about new regulation – such as insisting that firms put workers on their boards – and more about offering the most simple and attractive tax regime in the world.
We should be rolling out the red carpets for global business, offering them tax sweeteners to re-locate here if necessary.
On housing, young people are sick of the same old promises that never materialise.
Instead of leaving it to market forces to build new homes, the Government needs to roll its sleeves up and take direct action.
In Singapore the state delivers hundreds of thousands of new homes – and over 90% are owner-occupied. Only the might of the state can review the green belt, make available vast tracts of land, commission the developers and co-ordinate the building of millions of homes. Of course this would cause a massive backlash.
People will scream ‘not in my back yard’. But a generation of young people will not make it onto the housing ladder without more bold action.
Skills, jobs and homes. With a focus on these bread and butter issues, May can start restoring her authority.
By ditching the slogans and showing more humility she can earn back respect.