David Gauke: Getting the blame game wrong – you purge if you want to but it’s lazy who they are purging

David Gauke, writing on Conservative Home, critiques the Conservative Party's internal purge under Kemi Badenoch, who is applying purity tests on net zero and ECHR membership for parliamentary candidates. Gauke argues this strategy is based on a flawed analysis that blames the party's liberal wing for electoral losses, when in fact the decline was driven by Boris Johnson's lack of integrity and Liz Truss's economic recklessness. He also discusses Andy Burnham's upcoming premiership, expressing concern that Burnham's analysis of Labour's failure is overly sentimental and avoids hard trade-offs. Gauke warns that purging moderate voices will not necessarily win back voters who defected to Reform, and may alienate talented candidates.