Conservative politicians Sir Andy Street and Baroness Ruth Davidson are launching a new movement that will attempt to attract millions of “politically homeless” voters to the Tory party.
The former West Midlands mayor and former Scottish Conservative leader will unveil the initiative on Monday in a bid to win back moderate voters who they say snubbed the party at the last general election.
It will seek to engage those voters and work with them to develop policies they want the Conservative Party to adopt.
Speaking on the ‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Andy and Baroness Davidson said they had faith in Kemi Badenoch’s leadership of the Conservatives and wanted her to be prime minister.
But they said their research suggested that seven million people who describe themselves as centrist, or centre-right, felt no party currently represented them.
They feel there is political room for a movement that focuses on issues such as tax, housing, infrastructure and business investment.
Sir Andy said: “So we want to step forward with a national movement, grassroots movement, to get out there, talking to voters, and particularly to businesses, to bring forward ideas, where the tip of the spear is very much around the economy and the bread and butter issues about making people feel better off in this country.”
The movement is being set up at a difficult time for the Conservatives, who suffered their worst-ever general election result in history in 2024.
The party is facing a huge challenge from Reform UK, which has been leading in national opinion polls and announcing high-profile defections from the Conservatives for months.
Sir Andy, a former managing director of John Lewis who was twice elected as a Conservative mayor in the West Midlands, said “the forces of populism on the left and the right are rampant across the western world”.
He said the new movement was about saying “no, they are not in Britain”.
“There is still a really, really strong centre-right who believe in Britain, believe in its institutions, believe in its future, and who want to build things up and not knock things down.”
Baroness Davidson said Badenoch was a “solid Conservative who can speak naturally to a broad range of people who are current supporters or potential supporters”.
But she added there was a “large group of people who are potential supporters, where she might not be the best messenger”.
Baroness Davidson, who was Scottish leader when the Conservatives replaced Labour as the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament, said: “This is about people that feel that the Conservative party left them but also feel like they don’t have a home in Labour or the Liberal Democrats.”
Writing on X, she said: “We want to speak to those who feel politically homeless and to work with them – and business – to develop practical, pragmatic policies to improve lives & opportunities.”
