Aspiration needs to be the anchor of any future Conservative policy offering, according to a new pamphlet endorsed by Michael Gove and Katie Lam MP.
The report, written by Conservative activists and published by the Centre for Policy Studies, sets out why reclaiming aspiration as a core national value is both a moral imperative and a political necessity, and argues that without it policy risks remaining unmoored from the voters.
The paper argues that the 2024 election defeat resulted not merely from a failure of execution or communications, but a deeper breakdown of philosophy and conviction. It identifies five pillars of aspiration – fairness, dynamism, personal responsibility, a stake in the future, and family and community – and shows how each can be applied across the issues that matter most to voters: the economy, housing, education, immigration and crime.
Drawing on polling data, historical precedent from Disraeli to Thatcher, and an analysis of today’s fractured electorate, the paper makes the case that aspiration is a message capable of wide appeal to existing and potential Conservative voters.
Report authors Mario Creatura and Oliver Middleton said:
‘Britain is stuck in a declinist doom loop. The answer is not angry pessimism, and it is not Labour’s instinct for more tax, more regulation, and more state. It is aspiration – the belief that where you start should never dictate where you finish. That is the Conservative tradition at its best, and it is what we must reclaim.’
In writing the report’s foreword, Michael Gove said:
‘Aspiration is not a slogan or a sentiment. It is the animating principle of every successful Conservative renewal.
‘This paper offers a framework for that renewal. It understands that political movements recover not by trimming and hedging, but by knowing what they stand for – and saying so clearly.’
In the pamphlet’s epilogue, Conservative MP Katie Lam MP said:
‘As this paper makes clear, people cannot look forward if the ground beneath them feels unsteady.
‘At its best, the Conservative Party has been the standard bearer for merit and ambition. It cannot rebuild itself or the country unless it embraces that role once again.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- For more information or media requests, please contact Emma Revell on emma@cps.org.uk or 07931 698246
- ‘A Blue Hope’ is available under embargo here
- Mario Creatura is a self-employed strategic communications consultant and former Conservative councillor. Oliver Middleton works in financial services and is a political commentator
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, housing, immigration, and energy abundance, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity
Date Added: Wednesday 24th June 2026
