Conservative radicalism: who should the Tories target? with Jack Rankin MP
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can the Conservatives win back voters' support through a new kind of 'conservative radicalism'?
Jack Rankin, Conservative MP for Windsor, joins James Heale to explain why he believes a focus on aspiration and wealth creation, paired with political courage to combat 'short-termism and stakeholderism', would enhance the Party's appeal and energise its supporter base. Jack argues that Conservative politicians need to be more honest about the country's problems, including with immigration and integration – where the expectation of a minimum level of British values should be set. He doesn't shy away from discussing the Tories' challenging record too, reflecting on political unity, the need for party reform and the flaws of 2019 election winner Boris Johnson.
Plus: as the former PPS to Robert Jenrick, what does he make of the challenge posed by Reform?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.
For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.
Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to this special Easterbank holiday edition of Coffee House Shots. |
| 0:09.1 | I'm James Heel and I'm delighted to be joined today by Jack Rankin, who's the Tory MP for Windsor. |
| 0:13.7 | Hello Jack. |
| 0:14.2 | Good morning, James. Thanks having me. |
| 0:15.5 | Thank you. And Jack is on today in two capacities really. |
| 0:18.3 | Obviously he's one of the new 26 Tory MPs elected in 2024, but he's also put his name to a new report out by the next generation Conservatives, which is about how the party can rebuild for the latter half of the 2020s. Jack, just talk us through this new report they've got out. It's been endorsed by the likes of Claire Cicino, Andrew Griffiths from the shadow cabinet, yourself and Katie Lam have put supportive quotes to it. Talk us through the kind of top line recommendations. |
| 0:39.0 | Well, I think I've been a next generation Tory before I was a member of parliament, |
| 0:42.5 | which is something James Gowling, the MD of the group, which is a very good group, likes to say. |
| 0:47.0 | We're talking about a conservative revival via a new conservative radicalism. |
| 0:53.1 | And the paper talks about three strands, particularly. |
| 0:55.6 | It talks about wealth creation. |
| 0:57.6 | You're about my age, I might suggest James. |
| 0:59.9 | And in our lifetimes, never mind our adult lifetimes, |
| 1:03.1 | we've not seen any meaningful GDP per capita growth. |
| 1:07.5 | And we need to, frankly, as conservatives, |
| 1:10.4 | tell the hard troops around that, you know, whether that's our scholotic institutions. |
| 1:14.9 | Frankly, our country looks like a welfare state with a country attached or whether that's our inability to build. |
| 1:20.9 | This country is going nowhere without that basic wealth creation that we need for our lives. |
| 1:26.2 | It talks about aspiration. |
| 1:27.9 | My politics, my personal politics is highly motivated by a blue-collar conservatism, this |
| 1:33.3 | idea that with hard work and industry you can improve yours and your family's life. |
| 1:37.9 | And I think in this country, we've removed that link to the detriment of us all, whether |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.