49 Reasons the Conservative Party lost the 2024 General Election
The Conservative Party lost the 2024 very badly.
Here are 49 rough ideas on why I think that the Conservative Party lost the election.
Please note this list is a work in progress and not in any order of importance and is also a work that is a little tongue-in-cheek and a bit of fun.
- Staff and Leadership got captured by their own algorithms.
- Greedy betting gave the Labour Party the heads-up on the election.
- Rishi Sunak was a bad communicator.
- Boris Johnson and Lizz Truss had trashed the brand.
- Osbourne Syndrome - The obsession with winning elections over governing lead to bad government outcomes.
- It failed on Brexit.
- The demographics of Britain changed whilst in office.
- Let Landlordism run amock.
- Massive decrease in homeownership, stock ownership and financial security.
- Acted and governed as the Pensioners Party and not a One Nation Party.
- Over-communicated the "levelling up" agenda and isolated their core southern voters, whilst not "levelling up"
- Thatcherism became a revolution with no end, or enemies so it started attacking institutions that made Britain Great.
- Culture war nonsense. Day in, Day out.
- Attacking home working.
- Five-year focus on tactical media comms that won the day but lost the war.
- A large number of shy Conservatives died whilst they were in office. They were not replaced.
- Housing costs in large cities moved more educated liberal professionals out of city centres and made the commute belt more like London.
- Focus on astroturfing campaigning over activist-led campaigns.
- Losing councillors year after year without replacing
- Increasing the age of the party, as voters and members.
- Attachment to large-scale wealthy donors made the campaigning easy until they got donated.
- Private renters become Labour and Liberal Voters, not Conservatives.
- The Brexit purge ideologically narrowed the party and reduced the broad church nature of the party.
- Weird obsessions - ULEZ, Genderless Toilets, Lefty Lawyers.
- The Nasty and Incompentient party.
- Rishi Sunak's career was separated from the real world - Private school, Oxford, City, California, Westminster. Isolated him from both British politics and normal people, making it a difficult sell.
- LIZ TRUSS.
- Austerity.
- Parties at number 10.
- Losing the graduate vote.
- Losing the non-graduate vote.
- Losing the master's graduate vote.
- Losing the male vote.
- Losing the female vote.
- The voting public had decided that it was a time for change.
- Lost voters in Scotland and Wales through sounding and acting very "English" (in a bad way).
- Sending former minister Laura Trott out to say Dead Cat Bounce stuff on almost every occasion.
- Became the party of Landlords, Pensions and "motorists".
- Did not fix the potholes.
- Sewage in the rivers and sea.
- Energy bills got too high.
- Gas bills got too high.
- Mortgages and rent bills got too high.
- Government by Whatsapp coupled with rebellion by Whatsapp.
- They didn't have a Labour leader who was a Communist, granola-eating, terrorist-loving geography teacher to scare the public into voting for them.
- The public forgot they disliked the Liberal Democrats (well done Ed!).
- The Murdoch-led Right Wing press lost their place as opinion setters in the age of influencers, social media and direct communications.
- No one to deliver leaflets.
- Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson. Boris Johnson.