Conservative councillor and Express columnist Mieka Smiles has identified a surge in young members at the Conservative Party Conference as a potential secret weapon for leader Kemi Badenoch in the battle against Nigel Farage and Reform.
Writing for the Express, Smiles said she was astonished by the number of young people attending this year's annual conference. She noted that Badenoch herself highlighted a 50% increase in Young Conservatives (YC) attending the event.
A new generation of Conservatives
Smiles, 44, said she felt "practically ancient" compared to the young attendees, who were out partying while she had a hot chocolate in her hotel room. She observed that the young members came from all parts of the country and a range of backgrounds, not just private schools.
Transport officer Tyler Reeton, 25, a Conservative council candidate in Knaresborough and interim deputy chair of the YC, told Smiles that the next election would be like "hand-to-hand combat" and that the YC were showing they are "the soldiers to do that on the ground".
Young members hit back at Reform
Smiles reported that younger members gave the most cutting rebuttals of Nigel Farage and Reform. Joey Gwinn, 23, from London, who works for an MP, compared Farage's party to a "good internet scam", saying: "They're offering exactly what I want. That's the hair growth I want, that's the snake oil I want. The reality is they say one thing and they do another."
Student Will Hunter, 20, from Grimsby, kept his summary of Reform succinct, blasting them as "fake". Smiles argued these are the footsoldiers Badenoch needs to nurture, as they can convince their peers to challenge what they are being promised by Reform, Labour and the Greens.
