"This is a new Conservative party," Kemi Badenoch told reporters, "not going to be making the mistakes of the past." The words carry weight when followed by action. Yesterday's confirmation that Sir Grant Shapps has been barred from standing again as a Tory candidate is precisely such action.
The Spectator first reported the rejection. Few should be surprised. Shapps held nine ministerial posts, from home secretary to net zero secretary, co-chairman of the party, and knight of the realm. He lost his Welwyn Hatfield seat in 2024 by 3,799 votes. That defeat was not an isolated mishap. It formed part of the collapse that saw the party shed roughly 250 seats. Voters delivered a verdict on the record he helped shape.
A record that still haunts
Badenoch has been blunt. The party is changing its policies, its people and its processes. Candidates must meet standards and respect red lines. Among them: agreement to abandon net zero carbon targets and to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. These are not minor tweaks. They mark a break from the drift that turned a once serious centre-right party into an echo of its opponents.
Shapps embodied that drift. Energy secretary and then net zero secretary, he presided over policies that drove up bills, eroded energy security and fed the very green ideology now discredited by reality. His tenure at transport and housing delivered neither reliable trains nor sufficient homes. The pattern was consistent: high-profile roles, limited delivery, endless reshuffles that looked more like musical chairs than serious government.
The Conservative Party is a very different party from the one that was removed from government in 2024.
Badenoch's words to the BBC cut through Westminster's usual tittle-tattle. She has declined to comment on individual cases, rightly dismissing the gossip circuit. Yet the decision speaks volumes. This is not personal vendetta. It is an attempt to refresh the parliamentary party with individuals who did not spend the last parliament defending the mistakes now being discarded.
Renewal or rhetoric?
Sceptics will murmur about temperament. An unnamed party source has already whispered that the move reflects badly on the leader. Such complaints miss the point. After the 2024 rout, clinging to the old roster would signal contempt for the electorate. The public did not eject the Conservatives because the brand needed better marketing. They rejected a government that had lost its way on borders, borrowing, net zero and institutional competence.
