The Conservative Party conference in Birmingham is set to be a crucial event for party members and MPs as they come together after a defeat. The focus will be on the four leadership candidates – Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, and Tom Tugendhat – as they try to impress party members and boost their chances of making it to the final ballot. The candidates will participate in Q&A sessions, deliver speeches, and engage in fringe events to showcase their policy ideas.
Despite the party’s recent defeat and the need for introspection, there seems to be a lack of in-depth analysis of what went wrong. The leadership contest, scheduled to conclude on 2 November, has been criticized for its extended timeline, leaving the interim leader, Rishi Sunak, to handle important events like the upcoming budget due on 30 October.
The prevailing atmosphere of ennui due to the prolonged leadership contest has led to a reduced presence of corporate lobbyists, MPs, and activists at the conference. The ideological direction of the party is also under scrutiny, with the leadership contenders leaning towards a further shift to the right to appeal to voters of Reform UK. The eventual winner of the leadership contest will be tasked with leading the party in a new direction, but only time will tell if it will be a successful move or a dead end for the party.
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