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As the existentially challenged Tories meets in its conference city for its annual party conference, it has plenty to consider regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a viable path is available. We are in challenging circumstances for a governing group that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to voters.

The Missed Opportunity

Things could have turned out vastly better if tangible progress had been made on an agenda that is important for people throughout the UK: Equal opportunity. Yet Boris Johnson’s government lacked the slightest idea on how to convert the trendy talk on levelling up into actual implementation. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it argued over what the term actually signified.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for the Prime Minister what social mobility signified 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 guiding principle, and its definition is unambiguous: social mobility is the means by which we realize fair chances – not by taking chances away from those who are already advantaged, but rather by extending options to those that don’t.

Fundamental Idea

Another crucial DfE phrase we used, “potential is equally shared throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, served as a purposeful phrase, reflecting the two halves of a fairness agenda. Initially, ability distributed uniformly but not nurtured uniformly through our education system. Second, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economy. As a result, learning and employment were essential to achieving improved equality of opportunity. This was an agenda about the social fabric of our country – supporting individual capabilities and providing access to opportunities.

The Actual Outcome

How did the social mobility agenda evolve into under Johnson’s Conservatives? A towns fund managed by the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was launched almost thirty-six months after Johnson became leader, which saw ongoing initiatives relabelled under the fresh social mobility slogan.

As a result, a wider fairness strategy went unpursued, as well as all the improvement that it may have generated – in capital, business, fiscal strategy, taxation and in place-making. Additionally, in education, including a higher education sector that has become a punchbag for elected officials – although it remains the strongest driver of social mobility for individuals from less privileged homes, including myself, this country has had throughout modern times. Perhaps the primary source of fair chances, operating at scale.

Why Hope Matters

Aspiration is essential for our country to thrive. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that hard work and results are connected; that if people dream big, they can achieve. For political leadership, being able to create a feeling of hope about the tomorrow is important. Studies by the research body at the university and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I introduced as education secretary – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to youth in those areas being up to nearly one-fifth more positive about their prospects than those in similar areas without these initiatives in place. The evidence is clear: just making an genuine beginning on equal chance initiatives can quickly and positively change how people perceive their future.

Lost Potential

Oblivious to this, and in the middle of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the Tory administration closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a party that did that? The opportunity areas policy is a clear case of what might have become a transformative Tory policy platform on social mobility, but that possibility was totally misused. Approaches such as this can generate optimism and ambition. On the other hand, as the Tories found out, failing to deliver of fair chances is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. The public punished the leadership for its failure but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the baton on equal opportunity and equality of opportunity has been transferred to a Labour government. The old slogan has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “breaking down the barriers to opportunity”. The party that is gradually replacing the failing incumbents, Reform UK, also has its own language – “industrial revival”. The terminology to talk about additional chances in communities like the one I grew up in, in the region. It claims that an industrial past can be reborn into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must feel like a repetitive cycle. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. But – as yet – no results.

The Way Forward

If Labour and Reform UK want to escape the identical outcome, the respective organizations should learn from the Tories’ mistakes on social mobility; that fair chance language is easy to say, but effective implementation of more equal results is far more challenging. Britain’s persistently low social mobility remains the primary challenge for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those putting in effort in occupations with few results after the housing costs are covered, and citizens throughout the UK without any real hope their next generation will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about fairer opportunities repeatedly. However, which party has the organization that has the complete plan on equal opportunity? None appear to exist. Whichever party succeeds initially, prevails. Not just for their party, but, significantly, for a entire nation that has urgently needs equality of opportunity so badly.