Inside the Tory Conference

With Andrew Percy, Holly Mumby-Croft and guest roving reporter Antony Higginbotham

Joseph’s away, so the adults are off-duty — and the former MPs are in charge.

In this special Tory Party Conference edition, Andrew and Holly are joined by their old colleague (and flatmate) Antony Higginbotham — back from the ground in Manchester with gossip, grit, and grim assessments of where the Conservative Party stands post-election.

What’s Inside:

Low turnout, low energy, lower expectations

• This year’s Tory conference felt like a wake: fewer lobbyists, fewer ministers, and… fewer rumours
• Some MPs showed up to mourn; others showed up to rebuild
• Shadow ministers name-dropped Kemi, but were they really rallying around her?

“If the Tory Party has stopped producing good gossip… that may be the most dangerous sign yet.”

Still relevant? Or a brand waiting to be rebought?

• Antony offers a brutal but honest diagnosis:
• The party may be down — but if the Woolworths model holds, it’s still salvageable. Eventually.

“No one trusts the policies or the people—but the brand still has residual value.”

A generational void and the candidate drought

• Too few safe seats to attract serious talent
• Too many 2024 losers who only want to return if they get a guarantee
• A pipeline problem for any future right-of-centre government

“We’ll need to form a government with people who aren’t even MPs yet — and that’s a problem.”

The reform shadow, Kemi’s moment, and leadership gossip

• May’s local elections could be the breaking point
• But scar tissue from years of churn might delay any internal revolt
• And reform continues to absorb “the laziest defectors” — in Anthony’s words — without a clear plan to use them

00:00 Welcome and Joseph's absence — The passwords are ours
01:52 Introducing Antony Higginbotham — Former MP and conference reporter
02:37 What is party conference? — Britain's political circus explained
04:47 A conference with no protesters — The sign of irrelevance
05:55 Empty halls and missing lobbyists — Attendance hits rock bottom
08:24 A wake or a reset? — Two camps emerge at conference
09:37 The immigration credibility crisis — Starting with the party's biggest failure
11:41 The Woolworths of British politics — Brand value without trust
13:22 Stronger borders, stronger economy — A confusing message
14:52 Shadow ministers defending what they opposed — The credibility problem
16:08 The new intake — Katie Lam, Jack Rankin, and the future faces
18:07 Why weren't the new faces on the main stage? — Tory high command's control problem
20:02 Nick Timothy's rehabilitation — From 2017 disaster to leading voice
21:06 Kemi's leadership under the microscope — Mid-2025 performance review looming
22:28 May 2025 — The double test that could doom Kemi
23:53 Does the leader even matter? — Polling says no
25:48 The candidate crisis — No safe seats left to offer star recruits
32:00 The trust and talent problem — Who will form the next Tory government?
33:48 Defections baked in — 20 councillors to Reform barely makes news
34:51 Reform's defector problem — Taking the tainted wood
38:00 The gossip drought — When even the scandal is gone
40:39 Starmer steals Kemi's thunder — India trade trip on speech day
41:50 The HS2 committee reunion — Tractors, salt plains, and dominators
43:47 Wrap — Band back together and looking better than ever