I advocated for social mobility as the key to Conservative success – but the former Prime Minister failed to deliver. Observe the consequences.

While the beleaguered Conservative party convenes in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has much to ponder regarding its path forward. There is uncertainty if a clear direction exists at all. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the public.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out vastly better if real advances had been made on an agenda that matters to people across the country: Equal opportunity. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to convert the popular slogan on levelling up into policy reality. During the initial period after the 2019 election, it discussed what the concept truly represented.

It seemed strange to me, because I had previously explained to Johnson what levelling up meant when we first spoke about it during the contest for party leader. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the Department for Education to talk about life chances. It served as our departmental mantra, and its definition is unambiguous: levelling up is the means by which we attain equality of opportunity – without removing prospects away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding chances to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, again was a intentional wording, embodying the dual components of a social mobility strategy. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, access not provided uniformly by the private sector or our economic system. As a result, schools and companies were key to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an priority about the societal structure of our country – fostering human talent and linking them with opportunities.

What Levelling Up Became

What did levelling up evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? A towns fund managed by the DLUHC. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was published nearly three years after the leadership change, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

As a result, a comprehensive equal opportunity plan went ignored, as well as all the change that it might have driven – in funding, business, fiscal strategy, taxation and in place-making. And, of course, in learning, including a university system that has become a target for elected officials – despite the fact that it remains the most powerful engine of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the sole mechanism of equal opportunity, functioning widely.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is vital for our country to succeed. For people to have aspiration, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are linked; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is critical. Analysis by the research body at the university and others, newly available, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their future than those in equivalent locations without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can swiftly and beneficially change how people perceive their prospects.

Missed Opportunities

Unaware of these findings, and in the throes of its new leader election, in that period, the Conservative government closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a party that did that? This specific initiative is a clear case of what might have become a game-changing Conservative government agenda on levelling up, but that chance was totally misused. Strategies such as this can inspire hope and aspiration. Conversely, as the Tories learned, breaking the promise of fair chances is the costliest mistake any leadership can make. Voters penalized the leadership for its ineffectiveness but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on social mobility and equality of opportunity has passed to a opposition party. The levelling up rhetoric has been discarded. Labour has its own public messaging of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is steadily supplanting the failing incumbents, the alternative party, also has its own terminology – “industrial revival”. It’s a phrase to talk about additional chances in areas like the one I was raised in, in my hometown. It suggests that an historical manufacturing base can revive into an modern manufacturing sector.

For the public, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Same issue, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Should the current and alternative parties want to prevent the similar destiny, each group should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is significantly more difficult. Our nation’s persistently low social mobility remains the key issue for our country, with the next generation unable to get a decent career start, those laboring in occupations with little to show after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any genuine belief their next generation will be able to do any better in life than they have.

Leaders can talk about improved access however much they like. But where is the party that has the complete plan on life chances? I see none. Whoever gets there first, prevails. Not just for their organization, but, more importantly, for a whole country that has desperately requires fair chances so urgently.