If ever there was a time to speak frankly, it's now

It is a law of modern politics, that yes, the minister always has one line:

Mr. Humphrey: Unfortunately, even if the answer were indeed clear, simple and straightforward, it is difficult to justifiably attribute to it the fourth of the epithets you applied to the statement, as the precise correlation between the information you communicated and the facts, to the extent that they can be determined and demonstrated, is likely to pose epistemological problems, of a magnitude sufficient to impose a heavier burden on the logical and semantic resources of the English language than can reasonably be expected. expect to endure.

Hacker: Epistemological? What are you talking about?

Mr Humphrey: You lied.

Politicians have been accused of lying for years. Let's never pretend this is something new. Kier Starmer's Labor Party has regularly attacked Boris Johnson, and to be fair, many in the Conservative Party have as well.

Kier Starmers' Labor Party has been accused of this repeatedly since it started doing things it claimed not to do and doing other things it never mentioned. If his goal was, as he repeatedly said in opposition, to restore confidence in politics, he failed spectacularly in just four months. Unfortunately, just when trust was at an all-time low under the Conservative regime, politics itself found itself caught in the explosion.

One of the reasons Kemi Badenoch won the leadership of the Conservative Party was because she was seen as outspoken. Authentic and means what she says, even if some wish she didn't say it. She has been in charge for two weeks and Gordon Rayner told the Telegraphs this weekend:

I enjoy it, which surprises me, she says. Badenoch has a habit of saying exactly what she thinks, rather than giving what might be called a political response, and while this has earned her a share of criticism generally from the left, it also sets her apart from 'a somewhat bland crowd at Westminster..

The most important reason to be direct and honest, while it can be helpful to stand out in a crowd, is that there currently appears to be a real appetite among voters. This was not always the case.

This has been the case for a long time – I myself have been equally guilty of voters being able to hold divergent opinions simultaneously. This constitutes a strange prism for making political choices.

I once interviewed a very intelligent marine biologist at a campaign event and asked him who he planned to vote for. His response was that he was concerned about the environment and immigration and was therefore torn between voting for the Greens or UKIP.

Although he doesn't remember it, I once asked Sadiq Khan, privately, long before he was Mayor of London, why the parties weren't just honest with the public. This was almost 20 years ago and, ironically enough, in reference to an expected Labor decision on taxes, which had been denied but subsequently happened. His response was that reporting these things to the public was electorally foolish. At the time, some of his contemporaries on all sides privately agreed on their own policies. He was unfortunately right, the public did not want the truth. Now I tend to think so.

If ever there was a time to speak up, it's now. But to truly build trust, someone has to be honest at the same time. The party is now in a position where it can be honest about the failures of its government. Admit when things went wrong and work from there. Kemi used this phrase when launching his leadership bid:

We spoke on the right and governed on the left.

What appears to be the goal of its 2030 Renewal – and we await details on how this process will take place in practice? arrive – is to find a platform based on clear and defined values, which is neither left nor right, but authentically conservative. I would add a third criterion looking further, namely that it is honest.

An authentically conservative and honest message about it will allow the party to explain that some things that may be popular are not realistic, legal or affordable. Some things that the party has been in favor of before are not the answer for Britons in 2030 and so, by being frank with the electorate, gain confidence that when they say what they want to do, that will do, when the time comes.

I once thought of the voters, with a cynical journalistic prism, who, as the character of Jack Nicholson explodes, in Some good men:

You can't handle the truth.

I changed my mind. I think not only can they handle it, but they aspire to it.

It's clear that this Labor government is not going to deliver it, not without some major U-turns and, to be honest, the government is forcing you to change your mind. However, this leaves the field open for conservatives, shaken by their heavy defeat, to have the space and margin, to begin their reconstruction with a mission: to tell things as they are. Don't sell unicorns like some opponents, but find and define a value-based offer that is clear and unambiguous, authentic and honest.

In fact, approach the next election in exactly the same way that Labor failed to approach the last one.

Kemi has a reputation for speaking her mind. Even she would admit sometimes it didn't always help. Nevertheless, as our ConHome investigation predicted for months, the party decided that she should lead the party.

There are definitely risks, but her ability to speak her mind might be the right skill at the right time.