Tory policy chief: party needs Beveridge-style commission to survive

The Conservative Party appears rather burnt-out at the moment. At its conference – even before Theresa May’s disastrous speech – it seemed to be the Knackered Party rather than the Nasty Party that the Prime Minister herself had warned about so many years ago. But it is still in government, and desperately needs to find new ideas and reasons to exist while also negotiating Brexit and dealing with unexpected scandals, such as the allegations swirling around Westminster at the moment of impropriety from Cabinet ministers.

When parties are knackered, they often find a period of opposition to be a comfort, a chance to have the sort of debate about policy that you just don’t have time for in government. But those working at the top of the party on policy are insistent that the Conservatives still have the opportunity to regenerate while in power – it’s just whether the party leadership will allow this to happen.