Conservative Party Conference 2025

Jessica’s round up of this year’s Tory party conference in Manchester.

I’ve been mulling over the Conference for a few days now thinking about what to write in this post. I’ve been going to the Party Conference on and off for about 10 years. My first one in opposition was last year, which was more of a hustings for leadership candidates and pretty frenetic. This year wasn’t. It was calm and focussed.

Reading what the media chose to report versus what I was seeing and hearing each day was fascinating. True, there weren’t many businesses or retail stalls in attendance but honestly there were lots of members at the Conference. And these were committed members, most of the flighty star-chasers have left for Reform. The Conference and the Party is better off for it. There were also a lot of well-informed and interested young people who are clear about how the Conservative Party can support their long-term futures. This is extremely encouraging as we know the number of young people who believe in democracy is falling.

So what was happening in Manchester for all these committed members and young people? Fringe panel discussions in the main rather than lots of high-profile speeches and debates in the hall. I spent a lot of my time attending and speaking at housing and development panels but there was a real breadth of topics under discussion. Like me, it felt like everyone wanted to take part in policy development and in rebuilding the Party from strong foundations. It felt good and made me proud to be part of something with respect for democracy.

Please do download the recent paper I collated, Speaking Housing, which includes recommendations to support the Party’s policy review.

Kemi Badenoch’s speech on the last day was gangbusters. She’s obviously spent a lot of time developing her thinking and her leadership style. I was impressed. It reminded me of stories about how Margaret Thatcher was professionally styled and had voice lessons to inspire confidence and respect. The policies too felt very Conservative and it marks a move back to the centre right.

The one thing that was missing, worryingly, were representatives from industry. I believe their engagement with politicians of all colours is essential for developing economic policies that will work and will encourage growth.