I have never been so pleased to spend a normal Friday in my constituency. After a truly horrible couple of days in Westminster with overheated shouting matches in the House of Commons illustrating the worst of human nature, it was a relief to come home. Attending a Macmillan Cancer fundraising event in a sheltered housing complex in Ashford, I was reminded that most people in Britain are decent, thoughtful, considerate and kind.
I therefore propose we revive the idea of the “silent majority”. Voters who are not just turned off by violent language and political posturing, but who are desperate for politicians and a political idea that reflects their practical needs and wants.
Who can speak for this silent majority? I believe that the tradition of One Nation Conservatism is ideally suited to do so, and indeed must remain strong in the face of the splintering of mainstream moderate politics — not only in Britain but across the world. This is why a growing number of Conservative MPs — 80 of us so far — are joining the One Nation Caucus, which I chair, to protect our values and propose policies that will help to reunite our divided society.
We believe that a properly-regulated capitalist economy is the best way not just to create wealth but to spread it around the population. We think that the UK should be a generous and outward-looking country, proud to meet its international obligations both on aid and defence spending. We agree with those who think that fighting climate change is a key challenge for our age. Very pertinently in the light of recent events, we will go into battle to protect parliamentary democracy, the rule of law and the protection of the institutions that have grown up over the years to promote these quintessentially British virtues.
Looking at the current state of British politics, I am forced to admit that moderate ideas like this are on the back foot. This makes all of us in the One Nation Caucus more determined than ever to fight back. We will not permit our party to turn away from its best traditions, precisely because we do not want our usually civilised and moderate country to become a permanent battleground between competing hardline ideologies.
Brexit has divided the country, so the job of any thoughtful Conservative is to devise ways we can reunite it. Any Conservative worth the name recognises that a country shouting at itself is unlikely to continue caring about its institutions and history. So we need to lower the temperature, and calm the language. Extremism thrives in times of chaos. A Conservative will therefore prefer orderly, polite politics, not least because that is what the British people want.
Some of this battle for civilised politics involves policies. We will shortly be publishing a set of ideas that we want to see in the coming Conservative manifesto. Contrary to propaganda, Boris Johnson is always clear that he sees his politics as being squarely in the One Nation tradition. His announcements so far on health, education and the police provide real evidence of this. We will want the manifesto and the policies of the next Conservative government to build on this.
Apart from the right ideas, we need champions to proclaim them. This is why the One Nation Caucus has been clear: those who have had the Conservative whip taken away from them are still members of our group. They are still Conservatives. Indeed, some of them have been among the most creative and successful Conservative politicians of recent years. Any suggestion that they do not belong in the Conservative party these days is an act of political self-harm.
Even in the short-term, pushing people like these colleagues out of the Conservative family is mad. Those who are only concerned with how to placate the Brexiters ignore the lure of the Liberal Democrats for the millions of moderate Conservative voters. These are people who cannot countenance the thought of a hard-left Jeremy Corbyn-led government, but who rightly expect the Conservative party to combine hardheaded practical economics with a warmhearted generosity of spirit in its domestic and global approach. In our current electoral system, trying to narrow your breadth of support is a bizarre political strategy.
The Conservative party can fully reconnect with the decent instincts of the majority of British people only if it makes clear that One Nation politics is at the heart of its mission. We should always seek to unite, especially at times when the political temperature is dangerously high. It is both the right thing to do, and the route to electoral success.
The writer is MP for Ashford
