As the original author advocated for social mobility as the critical to Conservative success – but Boris Johnson failed to deliver. Observe the consequences.

As the beleaguered Tories gathers in Manchester for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. There is uncertainty if a road forward is available. We are in tough times for a political party that now has almost nothing, if anything, fresh or distinctive to say to the electorate.

The Missed Opportunity

It could have been vastly better if real advances had been made on an agenda that matters to people across the country: Social mobility. But Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to convert the popular slogan on social mobility into policy reality. During the initial period after the general election, it argued over what the concept truly represented.

I was perplexed, because I had previously explained to Johnson what social mobility meant when we first spoke about it during his leadership campaign. This terminology was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our guiding principle, and its definition is unambiguous: social mobility is the means by which we achieve equal access – not through reducing opportunity away from those who possess it, but rather by expanding options to those that lack them.

The Core Concept

Another crucial education department term we used, “talent is spread evenly throughout the nation, but opportunity is not”, served as a intentional wording, representing the two halves of a fairness agenda. Initially, potential shared equally but not nurtured uniformly through our learning institutions. Additionally, opportunities not spread evenly by businesses or our market. Therefore, education and business were crucial to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This represented an priority about the social fabric of our country – supporting people’s potential and connecting them to prospects.

What Levelling Up Became

What did levelling up evolve into under the Tory administration? A towns fund managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Street beautification and redeveloped traffic systems. A white paper was launched a significant period after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a broader social mobility agenda went undeveloped, as well as all the change that it may have generated – in investment, business, financial planning, taxation and in community development. Additionally, in schooling, including a university system that has become a punchbag for elected officials – even though it remains the primary vehicle of life improvement for individuals from less privileged homes, personally, this country has had throughout modern times. Possibly the primary source of social mobility, operating at scale.

The Role of Ambition

Hope is crucial for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are related; that if people aim high, they can attain. For any government, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is critical. Studies by the research body at Bath University and others, newly available, showed that the ministry’s focus zones I established during my tenure – locally targeted strategies to improving education outcomes – led to students in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their prospects than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The evidence is clear: just making an sincere effort on pro-social mobility policy can quickly and positively change how people feel about their destiny.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in that period, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. What reason would someone in those communities vote for a party that did that? The opportunity areas policy is one example of what might have become a transformative administration strategy on levelling up, but that opportunity was completely wasted. Methods such as this can create belief and drive. In contrast, as the Tories learned, failing to deliver of equal opportunity is the costliest mistake any government can make. The electorate punished the administration for its failure but, above all, for its broken promises on social mobility.

The Current Landscape

Currently the mandate on life chances and fair access has been taken up by a new administration. The levelling up rhetoric has been cast off. The new government has its own policy language of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The political group that is gradually replacing the hapless Conservative party, the challenger, also has its own terminology – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about fresh prospects in areas like the one I grew up in, in South Yorkshire. It promises that an former economic strength can be reborn into an modern manufacturing sector.

To the electorate, it must feel like a Groundhog Day-style loop. Similar challenge, new terminology. However, so far, no progress.

Lessons for the Future

Should the current and alternative parties want to escape the identical outcome, both these parties should take lessons from the Conservatives’ failure on levelling up; that fair chance language is one thing, but effective implementation of fairer outcomes is far more challenging. The UK’s endemically weak life chances remains the central problem for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in occupations with little to show after the living expenses are met, and people across the country without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about equal chances repeatedly. However, which party has the organization that has the comprehensive policy agenda on equal opportunity? I see none. Whichever party succeeds initially, wins. Not just for themselves, but, crucially, for a entire nation that has desperately requires equality of opportunity so urgently.