I thought I’d share some thoughts on our strained social contract. My starting point as a liberal Conservative is that I’ve always felt we should be optimistic about human potential but decidedly realistic about human nature.

That way we temper fanciful notions and naivety getting in the way of good governance, law and order, and a viable overall social contract, while still fostering an environment where aspiration – and critically – talent can readily flourish.

Right now we are in danger of over-promising and stoking unrealistic expectations when it comes to the domain of social mobility. We should be a party that is passionate about sowing the seeds of an opportunity-rich society, but we cannot engineer outcomes, nor should we seek to try. Our role is to empower people, ‘not decide for and do to’ them.

Going back to human nature, we must stop being overly simplistic in our approach. Human beings are deeply complex in nature – there are elements to our character and mindset that even our closest friends & family members may be unaware of. There are commonalities in society to be sure, but individuality is incredibly important and people don’t always behave as sociologists believe they would in a given situation.

I’ve been in two political parties and I’ve never not felt my own political worldview was one that put me firmly in the minority when it came not only to the membership but the electorate more broadly.

I don’t understand this constant need for people to claim that the electorate or “the country” overwhelmingly agrees with them.

Moreover, the great thing about our society is that it is made up of individuals and families, not identikit automatons. Our views are different. Our upbringing and life experiences are different. Our IQs, EQs and our capabilities are different, as are our passions and bucket lists. Even identical twins may have significant differences in views and interests and talent.

As Baroness Thatcher argued in 1975 at the Conservative Party Conference, “we are all unequal. No one, thank heavens, is like anyone else, however much the socialists may pretend otherwise. We believe that everyone has the right to be unequal, but to us every human being is equally important”.

I think the centre left and the centre-right alike need to kick the habit of rambling on about social mobility as if it’s simply in the gift of the state to wave a magic wand and make life chances and Labour market outcomes “fairer”. We’re on a hiding to nothing if you make utterly unrealistic, sweeping promises.

The Conservative Party does best when it has clarity about its mission – that mission when it comes to social policy and the idea of a “fair go” in life should be to nurture talent, foster aspiration in society, provide opportunities, and – most critically – protect freedom and the idea of merit-based selection in the workplace.

We should stop adopting the left’s rhetoric, its biases, and its overly simplistic policy approaches and have confidence in our own ideas. As Thatcher also argued in that same 1975 Party Conference speech, “The spirit of envy can destroy, it can never build. Everyone must be allowed to develop the abilities he knows he has within him, and she knows she has within her, in the way they choose”.

My view is we need as a party to embrace a healthy dose of realism about human nature. Not everyone has the talent or the drive to go far, and individual application and responsibility is extremely important in this domain. Nor should we expect everyone to “dream big”. Many people put their contentment in terms of work-life balance above their career aspirations. This is not only acceptable, it is natural.

It is not for the policy maker to mandate what quality of life and fulfillment of potential should mean for the individual.

But for those who do aspire to build a better life for themselves and their children, we must offer practical ladders of opportunity.

In conclusion, we need to be optimistic about human potential – because history is littered with unlikely success stories and great feats of creative, commercial and scientific achievement – but realistic about human nature. We must not blame the state for every misfortune in life, nor should we see the state as the remedy to problems that can be solved in the social sphere by individuals, families and communities taking more responsibility.

Our role is to help ensure there are reasonable pathways to success in an opportunity-rich, prosperous society for all our citizens, but it is for the individual to choose to walk the right path and be the author of their own life story.

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