The Conservative Party and the “Culture Wars”: When Instability Creates Stability

The 2024 political landscape was marked by two pivotal events for the Conservative Party: the 4 July general election and the November leadership election. The July election followed a period of instability and contentious debates over Britain’s post-Brexit trajectory. In the November election, four candidates – Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat – competed to define the party’s future direction. This was the fifth leadership election within the space of eight years. In both events, culture war issues emerged as important, reflecting a broader populist strategy to frame the party as the defender of traditional and, accordingly, common sense values against the perceived liberal overreach of the Labour Party. Drawing on theories of cultural hegemony, populism and political communication to analyse key speeches by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, this article investigates the reasons behind the choice of such strategies, their impact on electoral outcomes and their broader implications for political discourse.