Dear Conservative colleagues,
After the 1997 general election it took the Tory party 13 years and five opposition leaders to get back into government. I began the 1997 parliament as private secretary to William Hague when he became leader, and did a succession of frontbench roles under him and his successors. I still remember the shock of losing so many colleagues to Tony Blair’s landslide and the grinding frustration of the years that followed. What you decide and what you say now will help determine whether we have to wait that long again.
