I championed social mobility as the critical to Tory success – but Boris Johnson neglected the agenda. Observe the consequences.

While the struggling Tories meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a road forward is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has little, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

What Could Have Been

It could have been vastly better if concrete steps had been made on an policy focus that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. Yet the previous administration lacked the first clue on how to turn the trendy talk on social mobility into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the concept even meant.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to the Prime Minister what levelling up meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a term I developed and used at the DfE to talk about social mobility. This became our guiding principle, and its meaning is straightforward: levelling up is the approach by which we attain equal access – not through reducing prospects away from those who possess it, but rather by extending chances to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial ministry expression we used, “talent is spread evenly across our country, but opportunity is not”, served as a deliberate expression, representing the two parts of a fairness agenda. To begin with, ability distributed uniformly but not developed consistently through our schools and colleges. Additionally, chances not distributed fairly by the private sector or our economy. Therefore, schools and companies were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an priority about the social fabric of our country – supporting individual capabilities and providing access to chances.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda turn into under Johnson’s Conservatives? A towns fund administered out of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Street beautification and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was launched a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw ongoing initiatives rebadged under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in investment, business, financial planning, revenue and in place-making. And, of course, in schooling, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for youth from modest backgrounds, like me, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the primary source of equal opportunity, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is vital for our country to prosper. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a realistic expectation that effort and reward are related; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For any government, being able to instil a sense of optimism about the future is crucial. Analysis by the Institute for Policy Research at the academic establishment and others, published last month, showed that the education department’s targeted regions I introduced as education secretary – locally targeted strategies to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those areas being up to a significant margin more hopeful about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these schemes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on equal chance initiatives can rapidly and effectively change how people perceive their future.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its new leader election, in autumn 2022, the ruling party ended the initiatives. Why should any person in those regions vote for a party that took that action? This specific initiative is a single instance of what might have become a transformative Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Strategies such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the ruling party learned, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any political party can make. Voters penalized the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its unfulfilled commitments on social mobility.

Today’s Political Reality

At present the baton on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a new administration. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. Labour has its own policy language of “removing obstacles to success”. The party that is gradually replacing the struggling incumbents, the challenger, also has its own language – “economic renewal”. This expression to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I come from, in the region. It claims that an former economic strength can be reborn into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must feel like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, alternative phrasing. However, so far, no progress.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to avoid the same fate, each group should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on levelling up; that social mobility rhetoric is one thing, but effective implementation of improved opportunities is much harder. The UK’s chronically poor life chances remains the key issue for our country, with youth unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in full-time jobs with minimal progress after the housing costs are covered, and individuals nationwide without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can discuss fairer opportunities as much as they want. Yet where is the organization that has the thorough strategy on social mobility? I see none. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not only for their organization, but, crucially, for a whole country that has never needed fair chances so desperately.