Winning from within: How the right shifts the Overton Window without self sabotage - Part 1
You can’t be anti-elite and expect to succeed by attacking institutions head-on. Real change comes from working within them, gaining influence, and shifting the Overton Window from the inside
Robert Jenrick seems to understand this, using his position in the Conservative Party to push policy in a direction the anti-establishment right claims to support. Instead of standing on the sidelines, he is making real moves.
His recent policy stances on shifting the Overton window on what you'd typically see Facebook mum's talking about on Facebook in some group that has patriotic leanings talking about two tiered policing etc is a step in the right direction for the Conservative Party.
However Rupert Lowe lost the whip because he broke one of the key rules about power: Never outshine the master.
Power isn’t taken by force; it’s built from within.
He pushed too hard, too fast, making himself a threat rather than an asset.
What Lowe should do is go quiet for a bit, rub shoulders with the Conservatives in the tea rooms, and then position himself as a bulldog for the grassroots, similar to Marjorie Taylor Green who rallies the MAGA base while staying within the GOP, or Thomas Massie who does an excellent job tackling legislation in the States
This is why Rupert Lowe would be far more effective inside the Conservative Party. He alongside Jenrick would be able to move the Overton window Overton window inside the Parliamentary Conservative Party, a lot of which is normally talked about behind close doors in Association's across the country.
If I were Jenrick or Badanoch I'd focus right now on recruiting disaffected Reform Social Media influencers and setting up a new Social Media Unit inside CCHQ, this unit would then work with Shadow Cabinet to spread message regionally to build data and gather information on who interacts with us regionally on social media.
I'd then use these influences to help out associations that aren't particularly tech savvy and full of older members and help them on the ground when they are campaigning etc to have a centralized system.
This is very similar to what Trump did in the last presidential election, I would argue it was the first Influencer election, and why his approach with podcasts worked, because he has a team of people he could always rely on to spread their message and exactly what influencers like Carl Benjamin have been advocating that Reform does.
However where Reform refuse to learn from their failures, the conservatives certainly can.
I will expand upon this next week in a second part.