Wipeout! The local election results were at the bottom end of our expectations. Two or three party politics is over, for now at least. Reform are a meaningful force in our national and local life. In East Wiltshire they defeated two excellent local councillors (Mark Verbinnen in Amesbury East and Bulford, and Anthony Pickernell in Tidworth East and Ludgershall South) and a great new candidate (Johnny Hathaway-White in Tidworth North and West), and caused the Liberal Democrats to displace another two great councillors (Caroline Thomas in Marlborough East and Rob Yuill in Amesbury South). Overall we lost five of the fifteen council seats in East Wiltshire (we held them all before). Across Wiltshire, we lost overall control. The Lib Dems are the largest party but without a majority; we and they seem equally likely to lead the next administration. We shall see what the horse-trading produces.
My simple observation on these results is to blame ourselves for the mess we got the country into in the last Parliament - with legitimate excuses like Covid and Ukraine, but no real excuse for failing to reform the economy and manage migration, as we promised we would - and to blame Labour for failing so hard and so fast. In the normal way of things a new government has a year or two’s honeymoon, during which the defeated opposition gets its act together and is ready when the public starts looking for an alternative. This time, Labour have become unpopular with historic haste, and voters haven’t forgotten how much they despised the Tories. Reform (and the Lib Dems) are the beneficiaries.
In 2016 and 2019 the public voted strongly for change. They hoped Boris Johnson would deliver it. He didn’t. Labour are clearly failing to take the difficult decisions that are needed. Our job - and Kemi Badenoch is doing exactly this - is to be honest about the failures of the last government, and serious about the scale of the challenges our country faces. These are challenges that don't lend themselves to soundbites. Indeed, what’s needed isn’t just the word ‘reform’ but the thing itself - profound change to the way Whitehall works, with major implications for our economy and our society. That’s what Kemi is working on, deliberately and seriously.
It was a sad week in another respect, though in this case with some glory upon our tears. I attended memorial services in London for two heroes of my Party nationally and in Wiltshire. Sir Henry Keswick’s life was celebrated at St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, and afterwards at his own hotel, the Mandarin Oriental. Henry was inevitably described, in Charles Moore’s eulogy, as the ‘taipan’ of Jardine Matheson, the last of the ‘merchant princes’ who built a great Anglo-Asian trading house in the days of empire and continued it triumphantly into the post-colonial era. In Wiltshire Henry was a generous patron, and with his late wife Tessa - Henry's ‘princess’ as Charles called her, and long-time President of the local Conservative Association - a collector and planter (their arboretum at Oare is a national landmark) of great taste and distinction. He was a big, kind, gentle man, and will be much missed.
Tessa’s close ally was Michael Ancram, whose memorial service was held at Westminster Cathedral this week. Michael was a grand Scottish Catholic who like Henry bridged two eras: his nickname ‘Norman Crum’ derives from the incident when a butler, announcing the guests at some coming-out ball in the early 60s, misheard ‘Lord Ancram’. As MP for Devizes from 1992-2010 he started the Northern Ireland peace process - he was the first minister to meet Martin McGuinness - and then led our Party as chairman during our last spell in opposition. He was, as I know to my chagrin, the model local MP, whom no successor can live up to. A faithful Christian, a noted gardener and talented musician, he reminds us that some MPs can do good and be good.
It wasn’t all bad. Also this week, an Englishwoman became the world’s oldest person - and not just any Englishwoman, but a girl of Tidworth, where Ethel Caterham was brought up in the First World War. She is the last surviving subject of Edward VII. Sometimes in my line it helps to take the long view.
