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As the existentially challenged Conservative party gathers in Manchester for its yearly gathering, it has much to ponder regarding its future direction. It’s not even clear if a viable path remains open. These are difficult days for a political party that now has very little, if anything, new or unique to say to the electorate.

An Alternate Reality

Things could have turned out vastly better if real advances had been made on an agenda that resonates with people nationwide: Social mobility. Yet the former leadership hadn’t got the first clue on how to convert his zeitgeisty rhetoric on social mobility into policy reality. Over twenty-four months after the general election, it debated what the term truly represented.

I found it bizarre, because I had clearly defined for Johnson what social mobility meant when we originally talked about it during the contest for party leader. The phrase was a concept I originated and used at the education ministry to talk about equal opportunity. It served as our guiding principle, and its purpose is straightforward: social mobility is the means by which we achieve fair chances – not through reducing opportunity away from those who already have it, but rather by expanding chances to those that are without.

The Core Concept

The other key education department term we used, “ability is distributed uniformly throughout the nation, yet chances are not”, represented another a intentional wording, reflecting the two parts of a social mobility strategy. To begin with, potential shared equally but not cultivated evenly through our learning institutions. Furthermore, opportunities not spread evenly by employers or our economy. Thus, schools and companies were essential to achieving stronger social mobility. This was an mission about the community framework of our country – supporting human talent and linking them with opportunities.

The Reality of Implementation

What did levelling up turn into under the previous government? Local investment schemes overseen from the the relevant ministry. Hanging baskets and redeveloped traffic systems. An official policy document was launched nearly three years after Johnson became leader, which saw existing policy approaches relabelled under the new levelling up banner.

Therefore, a broader social mobility agenda went unpursued, as well as all the reform that it could have inspired – in funding, business, economic policy, tax and in community development. Moreover, in education, including a university system that has become a target for politicians of all stripes – despite the fact that it remains the primary vehicle of upward movement for youth from modest backgrounds, including myself, this country has had over the past 30 years. Maybe the primary source of fair chances, functioning widely.

Why Hope Matters

Hope is crucial for our country to succeed. To foster ambition, there needs to be a realistic expectation that dedication and outcome are linked; that if people aim high, they can achieve. For all administrations, being able to create a sense of optimism about the years ahead is crucial. Analysis by the research body at Bath University and others, published last month, showed that the DfE’s 12 “opportunity areas” I launched while in office – community-focused methods to enhancing learning results – led to young people in those neighborhoods being up to a significant margin more optimistic about their life ahead than those in comparable communities without these programmes in place. The research confirms: just making an sincere effort on fair opportunity strategies can swiftly and beneficially change how people view their future.

Squandered Chances

Unaware of these findings, and in the midst of its post-Johnson leadership contest, in autumn 2022, the ruling party closed opportunity areas down. Why would anyone in those areas vote for a political group that did that? This specific initiative is one example of what might have become a transformative Conservative government agenda on social mobility, but that chance was totally misused. Approaches such as this can create belief and drive. Conversely, as the Tories discovered, reneging on commitments of equal opportunity is the biggest blunder any leadership can make. The public punished the administration for its incompetence but, perhaps most of all, for its failed pledges on social mobility.

Present Circumstances

Currently the mandate on life chances and equal chances has been transferred to a opposition party. The previous terminology has been abandoned. The current administration has its own political rhetoric of “removing obstacles to success”. The organization that is gradually replacing the hapless incumbents, the challenger, also has its own language – “reindustrialisation”. This expression to talk about new opportunities in areas like the one I was raised in, in the region. It promises that an former economic strength can be reborn into an revitalized economy.

To the electorate, it must seem like a déjà vu experience. Similar challenge, alternative phrasing. Yet, currently, little improvement.

What Must Change

Whether the government and opposition want to escape the identical outcome, the respective organizations should learn from the previous government’s errors on social mobility; that social mobility rhetoric is simple terminology, but effective implementation of more equal results is much harder. Britain’s chronically poor life chances remains the primary challenge for our country, with the next generation unable to get a proper professional launch, those working hard in full-time jobs with little to show after the living expenses are met, and citizens throughout the UK without any actual expectation their offspring will be able to do advance in life than they have.

Politicians can talk about equal chances however much they like. However, which party has the political group that has the comprehensive policy agenda on life chances? I see none. Whoever gets there first, wins. Not just for their party, but, significantly, for a whole country that has never needed equality of opportunity so desperately.