Suella Braverman, who served as Home Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government, was our guest speaker at an Association supper at the end of September.
The Conservative MP for Fareham and Waterlooville addressed close to 50 local party members and supporters at Silvermere Golf Club in Cobham, offering her thoughts on the Labour government’s first 100 days and how the Conservatives can rebuild.
She started with thanks to the membership for their “indefatigable, constant, steadfast support” for the Party, including campaigning in all weathers and for weeks on end during the recent General Election.
Suella admitted these are “tough times for the conservatives” but added: “The Conservative Party is still the most successful political party in British history. We've known stunning results in the past, that 2019 landslide, when many people didn't expect us to win. We did it then and we can do it again.”
The Party’s success is because of its values, she said.
“We are the party that says it doesn't matter where you come from, doesn't matter what your parents did, doesn't matter what school you went to, or the colour of your skin, there is no limit on what you can achieve with an attitude of personal responsibility, endeavour, service, community, ingenuity, striving, determination, family, helping.
“And those are the values that have made our country great over centuries.
“We need to be able to take this message of aspiration, can-do ingenuity, out to the next generation, and bring those people back to the Conservative Party.”
Suella pointed to recent Labour scandals and missteps – freebies, cronyism, their disastrous decision to withdraw the winter fuel allowance pensioners with incomes of £12,000, fake claims of a £22 billion black hole in the finances, the early release of thousands of prisoners, and more.
“Jeremy Hunt has been very strident in pointing out that [the black hole claim] is a lie. It would be impossible for Rachel Reeves to suddenly turn up at the Treasury and discover a mysterious spending hole because of transparency and the Office of Budget Responsibility that makes all of our public finances available for the public to scrutinise.
“It's been caused by paying billions of pounds to the Union paymasters.”
She added: “I don't think anyone could have imagined just how quickly and how poorly Labour could leave this country. The list is endless in terms of the problems that we've seen in only the first 100 days.”
Suella talked about where the last Conservative government had gone wrong, in particularly on pledging to cut net migration but seeing it rise to unprecedented levels, and on illegal migration, “we failed to do the necessary to stop the boats”.
We oversaw “a tax burden which was at a 70-year high” and it was “difficult to distinguish our stance on the economy with that of the Labor Party”. She also said income tax is “far too high and punitive”.
Audience questions included, how should the party win over young people (a question asked by a 20-year-old student) – Suella said it was a “myth” that all young people are left-wingers but the Conservatives need to offer policies that address their concerns, adding “they want a voice that is not constantly appeasing, not constantly apologizing, not constantly blaming, making people feel guilty for being British or, you know, guilty for wanting to be an entrepreneur or be wealthy or succeed in life.”
She was asked about competition from the Reform Party… “There's not enough room in British politics for two conservative parties,” she said, predicting that Labour would continue to benefit from the split vote unless there is agreement between the parties. “The Lib Dems are a threat, but in the vast majority of seats that we lost, it was because of Reform so the first step to our recovery is dealing with Reform,” she said.
Suella offered her assessment of the strengths of the Conservative leadership contenders, including of course Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, who later made it to the final two. And she also predicted that she could see Boris Johnson returning to British politics in some capacity in the future.
RWCA Chairman Cllr Colin McFarlane thanked Suella for her attendance and our President, Cllr Alan Parker, gave a thank you address where he revealed that Suella’s name is Sue-Ellen – her mum being a big Dallas fan in the 1980s! Appreciation was also shown for the Silvermere staff who had provided great food and a fantastic venue.
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