𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The spectre of a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition Government after the next election sends a shiver down the spine of the milkman’s son at the heart of the effort to oust Andy Burnham and make Kemi Badenoch prime minister. If the red and yellow teams take control of the country, Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake warns, Britain will face an onslaught of higher taxes, even greater regulation, more unemployment and a rewiring of the election system.

“They’d try and bring in proportional representation to try and make sure we never got a proper Conservative government ever again,” he predicts.

The next election does not have to take place until August 2029, but Mr Hollinrake – who built up Hunters estate agents network before entering politics – is clear the future of the country is at stake.

“We’ve got to make sure we can win outright,” he says. “That’s a big thing for us. We’ll be doing everything we can to make that case against socialism and the devastating impact it’s had on the country, both in terms of business confidence and jobs and debt and taxation.”

The Tory conference in Birmingham kicks off today and Mr Hollinrake yearns for his party to escape Opposition and win the chance to launch a national rescue mission.

“We know we can fix this,” he says. “There are some things that are broken but they can be fixed and Kemi has the character, she has the team, and she has the plan. That’s the point.”

The 63-year-old does not downplay the scale of the challenge. Recent Ipsos polling found only 23% had a favourable view of the Conservatives. But he hopes the day is not far off when the Tories will break into first place in the polls.

“We’re not not complacent in any shape or form,” he says. “We’ve got lots of hard yards to do… The rebuilding of our reputation under Kemi’s leadership has been a tough slog. It’ll be a tough slog yet for many months and years to come.”

The Conservative conference is an opportunity to embolden footsoldiers while reaching out to a country which brought the curtain down on 14 years of Tory rule in 2024. He is sure that voters are souring on Labour: “People have seen the horrors of socialism, the desperation of socialism, the lack of opportunities you get from socialism, and thought, ‘No more of that, thank you very much.’”

He promises a “real festival of ideas” and boasts of a “significant increase” in attendance on last year. The Tories face competition on the Right from Reform UK, who are now famed for their on-stage pyrotechnics and mass-attended rallies. Mr Hollinrake says the Birmingham event will be “very member-centric” with a “Conservative form of razzmatazz”.

“We really hope every single Conservative member will feel part of this Conservative movement that we are building,” he says.

In September last year, YouGov forecast the Conservatives were on course for a fourth place finish with just 45 seats, with Reform the biggest party with 311 MPs. Now it says Labour is on track to be the biggest party with 241 MPs, ahead of the Tories on 130 and Nigel Farage’s party on 123.

Mr Hollinrake insists his party is “really, really stepping forward” and will be ready for an election: We’ve got, I think, 2,000 people who have applied to be on our candidates list… We will have a Conservative candidate in every seat across the country, whenever that happens.”

The hunt is still on for aspiring MPs who can win the confidence of constituencies across the UK: “We want people who have had real lives in the real world… This is a new Conservative Party under Kemi. She’s got a great team, and we want more people to join that team.”

The party’s supporters, whether donors, councillors or door-knockers, are key to “rebuilding the trust between ourselves and the electorate”. And – while high-profile figures including Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman are in Reform – he insists MPs stand unified in support of Mrs Badenoch.

“She’s got a great team with a plan but, crucially, all the parliamentary party is right behind her.”

Mr Hollinrake doubts that Mr Burnham’s decision to open Number 10 North will win lasting support in the region.

“I’m a Northerner, a proud Northerner,” the Thirsk and Malton MP says. “I love Manchester, my mum came from Salford – but there’s more to the North than just Manchester. I don’t think my constituents or people I speak to elsewhere in the North are impressed at all by increasing the size of government by having a Number 10 in the North. I don’t think that’s what they were clamouring for. They’re clamouring for a Prime Minister who is willing to take the tough decisions and give the country what it needs, which is some tough love. I see precious little evidence of that from Andy Burnham.”

Would the Tories keep Number 10 North?

“I don’t know what Kemi’s view on that would be,” he says. “Personally, I hate a situation where you’ve got civil servants who are duplicated.”

He expects the answer to whether the former Mayor of Greater Manchester will deliver reforms to bring down Britain’s welfare bill is a “resounding no”.

“It’s not the public he has to persuade,” he says. “It’s his own parliamentary party and his wider party. And that’ll be a tough job.”

Likewise, he thinks there is “absolutely no chance at all” that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner will hit the Government’s target of delivering 1.5million homes.

“Starmer killed confidence amongst businesses [and] households and consumers,” he claims.

He argues the “whole system runs on confidence” but Labour ministers “don’t understand it because they’ve never been in the world of business”.

Championing the business community in politics is a personal mission for the 63-year-old father of four.

“I love the people who work in the public sector – our doctors, our nurses, our teachers,” Mr Hollrinake, whose mother was a social worker, says. “They’re wonderful, they transform all our lives. Of course they do… But the reality is they are paid for by business people who invest [and] generate the tax revenues that pay for everything else.”

“This party will always be the party of business but never more so than whilst I’m chairman,” he vows.

He shows little desire to discuss Mr Farage and the challenge posed by Reform.

“We don’t spend lots of time worrying about Nigel Farage or what he’s doing,” he says, adding: “[He] is the one-man band in the one-man circus.”

Instead, he would far rather talk about how he believes his boss will connect with an electorate who are “tired of politicians who make things up on the hoof, things they can’t deliver”.

In contrast, he insists: “Kemi never says one thing and does another. Whatever she says, she will deliver upon.”

Her multi-billion package of cuts will free up cash for tax cuts and defence funding, he argues.

“We’ve got clear plans to do this,” he says. “It’s not complicated, but it does need somebody with character to implement it. That’s the kind of rescue we need. The rescue comes in the form of Kemi Badenoch.”