Kemi Badenoch’s recent rallying cry, urging Conservative MPs to “take an authentically conservative position,” has ignited a crucial conversation within the Tory party, and indeed, our country.
But let’s be clear: authenticity is not something you conjure up on demand. It is not a fashion or a focus group result. It is something you stand on… or you don’t.
I wholeheartedly welcome the excellent contributions of Sir Bill Cash, Jesse Norman, and Neil O’Brien in today’s Sunday Telegraph. Their words are not just thoughtful, they are a timely reminder of the deep Conservative traditions that have shaped our country for centuries.
But as Editor of the Conservative Post, let me go one step further.
Authentic conservatism is not just an idea, I believe it’s a conviction. It doesn’t shift with headlines or polling trends. It is rooted in the bedrock of belief, the same rock-solid principles our readers write to me about every single day. In their emails, letters, and conversations, they speak not in soundbites but in values: duty, decency, hard work, justice, and pride in our country.
That is the true voice of Conservatism… and it’s not found in think tanks or strategy memos. It’s found in lived experience.
For me, the clearest and most enduring expression of that voice came from a man many today may not know, but whose words deserve to echo through every constituency office and every new member pack: Nigel Hawks.
In the 1960s and 70s, Nigel Hawks was a tireless Conservative agent from Kent. Later, during his time at Conservative Central Office in the early 1980s, he put pen to paper and produced a document that deserves to be etched in stone: The Creed of a Conservative.
It is, in my view, one of the clearest and most complete definitions of what it means to be a Conservative.
“A Conservative is a person of Definite Principles,” Nigel begins. And he’s right. Not suggestions. Not guidelines. Principles.
We Believe in Britain
Authentic conservatism starts with love of country. Not in an abstract way, in the real, rooted sense that believes Britain matters, that our institutions, our culture, our monarchy, and our history are worth preserving and defending.
“A Conservative has undying loyalty to the Crown.”
That’s not performative patriotism. It’s foundational. We believe in duty. We believe in continuity. We believe in Britain.
We Believe in Freedom – Not Chaos
A Conservative doesn’t worship the state. Nor do we believe in abandoning people to the market. We believe in freedom with order. Nigel Hawks said it perfectly:
“A Conservative believes in freedom of speech and activity within the Law… in enterprise and sport.”
In housing, in schooling, in medicine, we trust the people to choose. But we also believe in standards, in discipline, in personal responsibility. Because rights without responsibility is not freedom, it’s disorder.
We Believe in Justice and Order
Authenticity demands clarity. Nigel again:
“A Conservative deplores any flouting of the Law.”
We believe in law and order, not excuses. We protect the innocent. We punish the guilty. And we do so without apology.
Authentic conservatism also means rejecting extremism in all its forms, whether that’s criminal chaos on our streets or institutional capture by fashionable ideologies that undermine family, duty, and merit.
We Believe in Fairness – Real Fairness
“A Conservative believes in equal basic opportunity for all, and equal justice for all within the Law.”
Not identity-based outcomes. Not algorithmic equity. Just the old-fashioned British promise: work hard, do your bit, and you will rise.
That’s not backward-looking, it’s timeless.
We Believe in the People – Not the Bureaucracies
Nigel Hawks didn’t pull punches:
“A Conservative deplores any excessive power resting in the hands of any Trade Union or other organisations.”
Authentic conservatism today means cutting loose the unelected grip of quangos, NGOs, activist lawyers, and international courts. It means returning power to Parliament, and through it, to the people.
That’s not just a Brexit principle. It’s a constitutional one. It’s the reason we’re here.
A Party for the Whole People
Finally, let’s remember what Nigel ends with:
“The Conservative Party is the Party for the Whole People. Do not allow yourself to be confused by other issues.”
That is the north star. When we remember who we are, when we stand for the small business owner, the soldier, the teacher, the family, the pensioner, the young couple saving for their first home, we win.
When we forget, we drift.
So, when Kemi Badenoch speaks of authentic conservatism, my answer is this:
It is not new. It is not negotiable. And it has never been more needed.
It is time to rediscover the creed. To honour Nigel Hawks’s words not as relics, but as rallying cries. And to restore Conservatism not just as a political project, but as the moral and cultural force that built Britain, and must now rebuild it.
Let’s be authentic. Let’s be unapologetic. Let Conservative Party members be Conservative again — with a capital C.
By Claire Bullivant, Editor in Chief of the Post and CEO of the Great British PAC
