{"id":286024,"date":"2025-10-08T08:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286024\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T08:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T08:10:17","slug":"uk-conservatives-adopt-donald-trump-style-policies-to-regain-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286024\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Conservatives adopt Donald Trump-style policies to regain power"},"content":{"rendered":"

MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s Conservatives<\/a> used to boast they were the world\u2019s most successful political party. Not anymore.<\/p>\n

The center-right party that governed the U.K. for more than 60 of the last 100 years before being ousted in 2024 is embracing Donald Trump<\/a> -style policies including mass deportations and DOGE-style spending cuts as it battles to remain a contender for power.<\/p>\n

The Tories are fighting not just the Labour government<\/a> to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Nigel Farage\u2019s hard-right party<\/a> has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in May\u2019s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we have a mountain to climb,\u201d Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch<\/a> told party members at their annual conference, which ends Wednesday in Manchester. \u201cBut we have a song in our hearts, and we are up for the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shrunken party<\/p>\n

Crowds were thin under the vast vaulted roof of the Manchester Central conference venue, a former railway station in the northwest England city, as delegates absorbed the party\u2019s diminished stature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not in a great place at the moment, we\u2019re aware of that,\u201d said Neil McCarthy, a member from northern England. \u201cThere needs to be passion, and we need to get the message across that we\u2019ve changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservatives have undergone years of turmoil \u2013 some of it of their own making, some of it shared by incumbent parties<\/a> in a world of economic and geopolitical instability.<\/p>\n

The economic benefits of Britain\u2019s 2020 exit from the European Union, championed by those now running of the party, have been elusive. Prime Minister Boris Johnson<\/a> won a huge election victory in 2019 but was ousted by the party<\/a> in 2022 after a string of ethics scandals.<\/p>\n

His successor, Liz Truss<\/a>, sent inflation and interest rates soaring with a disastrous tax-cutting plan that wrecked the Conservatives\u2019 reputation for economic stability.<\/p>\n

Under Rishi Sunak<\/a>, the government staggered on until the July 2024<\/a> election that delivered the Conservatives\u2019 worst-ever defeat.<\/p>\n

Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate elected leader last year, has shifted the party to the right, announcing policies with a distinct MAGA flavor. She says a Conservative government will scrap carbon emissions reduction targets and deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year with a removals force similar to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the U.S. as well as sharply reducing legal immigration. It would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights and limit the power of judges to block the will of government.<\/p>\n

Such policies alarm civil liberties groups. They are also similar to what Farage says he would do in power, leading some to ask what sets the Conservatives apart from Reform.<\/p>\n

Badenoch says the difference is fiscal prudence. She rejects Farage\u2019s promises to increase welfare spending and nationalize key industries such as steel.<\/p>\n

Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government think tank, said Badenoch\u2019s attempt to make the Tories \u201cReform with better economics\u201d risks \u201cnarrowing the appeal\u201d of the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, she\u2019s chucking quite a lot of people out of the Conservatives\u2019 broad church,\u201d Rutter said.<\/p>\n

Climate-change targets, human rights rules and support for managed immigration were until recently mainstream Conservative positions, and some Conservatives are uncomfortable with the party\u2019s rightward turn. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think a lurch to the right is necessarily the solution,\u201d said Elizabeth Rhodes, a party member from Knutsford in northwest England. \u201cI think the Conservative Party has always been a coalition, and if we are going to win again, we\u2019ve got to (still) be.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"British<\/p>\n

British Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick gives an interview during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, in Manchester, England, Tuesday Oct. 7, 2025. (Peter Byrne\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

British Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick gives an interview during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, in Manchester, England, Tuesday Oct. 7, 2025. (Peter Byrne\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Leadership doubts<\/p>\n

The government does not have to call an election until 2029, but Badenoch\u2019s poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament have stirred speculation that she may be ousted long before then. <\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> faces similar discontent<\/a> within his Labour Party as Reform destabilizes parties of both left and right.<\/p>\n

Conservative lawmaker Robert Jenrick, who lost the 2024 leadership contest<\/a> to Badenoch, has spent the ensuing months building his online brand \u2014 one popular social media video showed him confronting subway fare-dodgers \u2014 and becoming one of the party\u2019s loudest anti-immigration voices.<\/p>\n

Video published online by The Guardian newspaper showed him remarking that he \u201cdidn\u2019t see another white face\u201d in a neighborhood in Birmingham. Jenrick said he was not being racist but expressing concern about \u201cghettoized communities\u201d and lack of integration.<\/p>\n

Jenrick drew large crowds at his conference appearances, where he said the Conservative Party needs to show more \u201chunger,\u201d while insisting he is loyal to Badenoch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party made its choice,\u201d he said. \u201cKemi is our leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenrick hasn\u2019t ruled out running for leader again, or making a unite-the-right electoral pact with Reform, an idea Badenoch rejects.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Conservative<\/p>\n

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, Manchester, England, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (Danny Lawson\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during the Conservative Party Conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, Manchester, England, Sunday Oct. 5, 2025. (Danny Lawson\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Memories of Margaret Thatcher<\/p>\n

Facing an uncertain future, many Conservatives are retreating to their happy place: the 1980s, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher<\/a> transformed Britain with her free-market policies.<\/p>\n

The Manchester conference hall sported life-size cardboard Thatcher cutouts, tables stacked with biographies of the late leader and bottles of Thatcher whisky for 85 pounds ($114) each. Delegates could dance to 1980s hits at a \u201cretro disco-themed club night celebrating Margaret Thatcher.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Davis, a Conservative lawmaker since 1987, said Badenoch could still revive the party as Thatcher once did.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the late 70s she was being talked down, too, for precisely the same reasons: a bit too tough, a bit too hard-edged, a bit too dangerous, the policies,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBut then we had the (financial) crisis and suddenly Thatcher was the right answer. We\u2019re going to have another crisis, and Badenoch will be the right answer too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANCHESTER, England (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s Conservatives used to boast they were the world\u2019s most successful political party. Not…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":286025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[147227,1226,147226,69,147229,57,409,6604,147230,17723,25929,62733,147231,50,25930,80,145495,147228,376,4338,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-286024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-boris-johnson","9":"tag-conservatism","10":"tag-david-davis","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-elizabeth-rhodes","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-immigration","15":"tag-international-news","16":"tag-jill-rutter","17":"tag-keir-starmer","18":"tag-liz-truss","19":"tag-margaret-thatcher","20":"tag-neil-mccarthy","21":"tag-news","22":"tag-nigel-farage","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-rishi-sunak","25":"tag-robert-jenrick","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-united-kingdom-government","28":"tag-world","29":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115337536245457293","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}