These are not just policies, these are M&S policies. Kemi Badenoch’s rousing speech at the end of Conservative conference pointed to the revival of Marks & Spencer as a model for how the Conservative brand was renewing itself. That’s a shrewd choice: polling shows that a third of those who shop at Marks and Sparks for their groceries are Tory voters, more than any other party.
The real meat of Badenoch’s speech was her commitment to exempt family homes from inheritance tax and then add a nil-rate band of £500,000 on top, or £1 million for a couple. It’s smart politics, too: with IHT about to get its claws into pension pots from April, Britain’s most-hated tax is going to be even more unpopular by the time of the next election.
Mani Basharzad argued for CapX that this should be seen not just as a headline-grabbing tax cut, but as a battle cry in the new war of ideas – making the case for both popular capitalism and the very Tory belief in the value of passing on a legacy to the next generation. In this week's Capitalist podcast, we feature the Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith, in conversation with Liam Halligan, on how the Right has ducked the battle of ideas for too long – and the Conservatives are now up for the fight.
Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.
Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX
Today’s Takes
Fresh thinking from CapX
James Cleverly: Kemi needs me in City Hall
Marc Sidwell
‘The housing market has ground to a halt in London – in large part because of political decisions that have been made in City Hall. … If we know that tax and regulation is what’s stopping things from getting built, we’ve got to reduce the tax and regulation. And the Mayor can do something about that.’
Could a Conservative Mayor get London building again? That’s James Cleverly’s pitch to the Tory party, as he seeks the chance to fight Sadiq Khan for the mayoralty in 2028. He also promises to stand up for London’s Jews, and says putting him in City Hall will smooth Kemi Badenoch’s path to No. 10. Read More
Badenoch’s IHT pledge is a battle cry
Mani Basharzad
‘Badenoch’s conference speech had a simple message: we are living beyond our means. The solution is growth, and the way to achieve it is not to ‘move the government to Manchester’ but ‘to move the government out of the way’.
Kemi Badenoch gave her keynote speech at the Conservative party conference. She is bringing a bold, principled conservatism to the voters. Her main aim is to make popular capitalism popular again and one of the ways she is going to achieve this is by making it easier for people to buy, own and pass on a house. If the Conservatives return to government, you won’t pay inheritance tax on the family home. Read More
The Capitalist: Andrew Griffith
This week’s episode is a little different. Instead of one of my usual interviews, we’re bringing you a conversation from the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. At a Centre for Policy Studies fringe event, its new Director Liam Halligan put the questions to Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith.
Griffith, a former FTSE 100 finance director, begins with why Britain’s growth rate never recovered after 2008. He points to a tax system that discourages risk, a state now spending 45p in every pound, an ageing population that governments tried to offset with high immigration and years of quantitative easing that rewarded owning assets over building businesses. He accepts that Conservative governments share the blame. In his view the party’s biggest failure was that it stopped making the case for markets, and by the end it was telling people how to heat their homes and regulating how fruit yogurt is advertised.
On the public finances, he compares Britain to Wile E. Coyote, clinging to the cliff edge while paying more for 30-year borrowing than Greece, Portugal, Morocco and Bulgaria. He insists the problem is political rather than economic: the Chancellor, John Healey, could find the savings ‘this afternoon’ if Labour were willing to reform welfare. He also explains why high energy costs are only one layer of ‘the whole stack’ holding British business back, and why he thinks handing power to arm’s-length regulators has been a disaster.
Best of the Web
Why won’t Burnham release the Neets report?
Isabel Hardman, The Spectator
‘Burnham can maintain the illusion of action for a bit longer, without having to find the money in the upcoming Budget to fund the welfare reform, or work out how to staff the programmes Milburn wants.’
Andy Burnham has still not published the Milburn review. He and his party enjoy using the report to show they care about welfare reform but not enough to publish it and take action. Milburn has said that his recommendations will likely cost a lot of money upfront. Money Burnham doesn’t have. The PM may be able to pretend to act without finding the money for now, like most politicians would, but it’s not doing politics differently. Read More
The Left don't hate inheritance tax enough
Annabel Denham, The Telegraph 🔒
‘Make the unapologetic case for allowing people to keep more of what they and their families have earned, however wealthy they might be.’
Inheritance tax is remarkable because it is uniquely hated by voters. A relatively small percentage of people actually pay, but a majority of voters would like to see it gone. They view it completely differently to VAT, because they understand that people work hard and save partly to leave something behind for their loved ones. Read More
Unlocking the Nixon Tapes with AI
Stat of the Day
And if you want more...
– John Redwood: the people are sovereign (ConservativeHome)
– British Jews are asking: are we safe here? (City AM)
– Life lessons from the hard-drinking Victorian elites (Works in Progress)
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It isn’t a death tax. It’s a tax on unearned income.