By Ben Kerrigan-
Matt Hancock led a relatively compelling(in some respects) but ironic speech at an event organised by a thinktank of which he is member, asking the Tories could appeal to younger voters at a think tank event
Spectators crowded into the venue to listen to a man who blatantly broke government policy by breaching lockdown rules, lecture Mps about how to woo young people.
In a video posted online of Bright Blue’s ‘Drink Tank’ event Mr Hancock, holding a pint of beer, told the audience: ‘I’m a normal person now, I’m not a Conservative MP.
‘It’s like being normal like the people we represent. That is what we need to do, that is a really good starting point.’
He described some of those who attended the conference ‘Conservative Corbynistas’ and warned they will be ‘as destructive’ to the Tories as left-wing activists were to Labour under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
The West Suffolk MP, who now sits as an independent in the House of Commons, also condemned a speech by ex-No10 aide Danny Kruger about ‘normative families’ as ‘offensive’ and ‘so wrong’.
The essence of some aspects of his speech my have been a winner if not for the fact that most well informed young people have long been critical about the hypocritical double standards of politicians, notorious for lying and being deceptive.
The former Health Secretary evokes memories of partygate and everything double standards about politics, making the choice of him appear anything but disingenuous attention seeking.
The irony about this message, in the eyes of Tory MPs, is the messenger himself. Mr Hancock is no longer a Conservative MP but sits as an independent after losing the whip last autumn when he appeared on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Appearing on the television show was also a breach of parliamentary codes of conduct, for which he was kicked out of the party. With two known abhorrent violations of institutional rules( and there may be more which haven’t surfaced yet and may never do), Hancock is the last person to talk about anything remotely associated with standards.
In his speech, Mr Hancock even made light of his controversial appearance on the programme, comparing this week’s National Conservatism conference to “I’m a Conservative get me out of here”.
The MP insists he went on the ITV show to broaden the appeal of politics to a younger audience – and in a way this worked, as he says he now has tens of thousands of younger people following him on social media.
Although he was cleared by Ofcom, following several complaints from the public, that officil decision has for months been under scrutiny by a panel of academics and analysts on The Eye Of Media’s thinktank, who have been considering a number of factors in relation to Hancock’s appearance on the show, and the subsequent clearance by Ofcom.
They are in the final stages of that assessment.
This publication has already been in contact with Ofcom twice in discussions over the issue
“We’ve got to embody the socially liberal, positive values that people under 50 overwhelmingly support,” says Matt Hancock, the former health secretary turned reality TV personality.
“Because if we don’t do that, then the Conservative Party will die.”
He’s addressing an audience of politicos at a packed-out event organised by Bright Blue, a think tank for liberal conservatism.
The subject of the talk: How can the Tories appeal to young people?
A YouGov poll found only 21% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they voted Conservative at the last general election in 2019, compared to 67% in the over-70s category.
In recent polling, done at this month’s local elections, only 8% of the 18 to 24 group said they would vote Conservative.
“For the 29 to 49-year-olds, that figure was 10%,” Mr Hancock tells the event.
That 10% figure, Mr Hancock says, “is catastrophic for the electability of the Conservative Party, not just now, but for a decade”.
“We need to have credible policies that address the issues that younger people care about,” he says.
Dozens of people gathered at the Morpeth Arms to watch Mr Hancock speak
As a TikTok enthusiast with 184,000 followers on the platform, Mr Hancock claims to have an antenna for what young people are looking for in politics.
Curbing climate change, providing more affordable housing, and technological innovation are what young people care about – not some “divisive culture war”, Mr Hancock says.
The former Cabinet minister has railed against the ‘Conservative Corbynistas’ who risk losing the next general election if they desert the centre ground, but is anyone in the party listening to the I’m a Celebrity contestant.
His speech at event hosted by the centre right Bright Blue think-tank on Wednesday evening was posted on social media Mr Hancock revealed figures which underline the scale of that first challenge again, when Rishi Sunak seeks a fifth term next year.
At the 2015 general election, the former health secretary said, 32 per cent of under-25s and 36 per cent of 25- to 49-year-olds voted Conservative – not insignificant numbers when Tory voters generally skew towards older age groups.
However, at the local elections earlier this month, the Tories won the support of just 8 per cent of the under-25s and 10 per cent of 25- to 49-year-olds.
Seismic Change
Mr Hancock said: “It is a massive seismic change and we cannot afford to let that go on. We need to have credible policies that address the issues that younger people care about.”
These issues include the cost of living, NHS, housing, the environment and artificial intelligence, rather than what he called “a divisive culture war”.
He added: “My view is that those of us who believe in a liberal conservative agenda have got to stand up to the Conservative Corbynistas who just want to divide people and understand that Conservatives govern well and win elections when we build coalitions, when we collaborate with people and when we solve real world problems rather than trying to exclude anybody who with a sense of ideological impurity.
“I call them Conservative Corbynistas because it’s essentially the same, instead of concentrating on the politics of progress, of the people, they preach the same sort of cancel culture and virtue signalling that they say they abhor on the left.
“In electoral terms, the 2019 election wasn’t about replacing the Blue Wall with the Red Wall, it was about building the Red Wall on top of the Blue Wall, it was about building a bigger coalition.”