Alex Burghart urges Tories to keep apologising

Alex Burghart urges Tories to keep apologising
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UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) –  In a leaked recording, Conservative MP Alex Burghart urged the party to continue apologising for past mistakes, revealing ongoing internal tensions.

As reported by The Telegraph, a senior Tory MP has urged the party to keep expressing regret to the public over its failures in office.

What did Alex Burghart say about Tory mistakes and apologies?

Speaking to party members, Alex Burghart admitted that the Conservatives “got things wrong” and were “rightfully chucked out of office” as a result.

His remarks have revealed divisions within the Conservative Party over how to confront its time in government, following a media report that a senior aide to Kemi Badenoch declared the era of apologies was over.

In a leaked audio, Baroness Maclean said the Conservatives had completed their phase of public admissions and should now shift focus to a wide-ranging policy review led by Kemi Badenoch.

At a private gathering on July 9 at the Oxford and Cambridge Club on Pall Mall, a member of the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association raised the issue with Mr Burghart.

The member stated,

“I do think it needs a bit more of a mea culpa to convince people, and me, a party member, that there is some recognition of how catastrophic some of those policies were.”

Mr Burghart responded,

“The most important thing is to show, not tell, right? And that the first thing is, we’ve gone through…Kemi’s gone through a period – I don’t think it is over – where you have to, if you’re asked about it, you say: ‘Well absolutely, the Conservative Party got things wrong, that’s why the British public chucked us out.’ You know, we have gone through, [are] going through, the process of learning those mistakes.”

His comments come as top Conservatives argue over how to win back public trust after losing badly in last year’s election.

While addressing a party meeting, the senior Conservative pointed to a number of challenges. In his view, these had stopped successive Tory governments over 14 years from fulfilling their vision for the country.

He cited the coalition years, Brexit, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine as major disruptions. According to him, these events “led to the biggest energy crisis since the 1970s and the worst inflation since the 1980s.”

How did Tor leaders try to move past their party’s mistakes?

Tim Yeo, a former Tory frontbencher, criticised the Conservative Party in early 2003 for its self-blaming tone. He urged an end to what he described as the party’s “mea culpa” mindset under the leadership of Baroness May.

Sir David Davis, while running for Tory leadership in 2005, told party members to “walk tall” and stop apologising for their history. He later lost to David Cameron.

What policies are the Tories rewriting ahead of the election?

Kemi Badenoch has initiated a “policy renewal programme”, prompting senior Conservatives to review major party positions ahead of the next general election.

She confirmed the party will no longer support the UK’s 2050 net zero target, which was made law under Baroness May in 2019.

Ms Badenoch has announced a shadow cabinet shake-up, bringing Sir James Cleverly back to the Conservative front bench.

A Tory insider said Ms Badenoch is expected to announce shadow cabinet changes today as part of the party’s wider policy review.

What did Labour say about Badenoch’s cabinet reshuffle?

A Labour source stated,

“After initially claiming her Shadow Cabinet would be in place until the next election, Kemi Badenoch has already hit the panic button.”

They added,

“The Tory leader can shuffle as many deckchairs as she likes, but it’ll still be the same old faces that were responsible for 14 years of failure. They crashed the economy and ran public services into the ground.”

Beth Malcolm

Beth Malcolm is Scottish based Journalist at Heriot-Watt University studying French and British Sign Language. She is originally from the north west of England but is living in Edinburgh to complete her studies.