At last year’s Conservative conference, Amber Rudd cast herself as a foe of immigration. Businesses, the Home Secretary proposed, would be forced to publish a list of how many foreign workers they employed (a policy swiftly revoked after outrage from firms).
She devoted lengthy passages of her speech to the Conservatives’ net migration target. “This means tens of thousands [of people], not the hundreds of thousands,” Rudd declared. Both the tone and the substance of her speech stunned liberal allies (who regard her as a future leader).
Well, a year is a very long time in politics. In her address to this year’s Tory conference, Rudd did not even deign to mention the net migration target (which Theresa May remains committed to). Rather than threatening to “name and shame” businesses for employing foreign workers, Rudd vowed not to “impose unnecessary burdens, or create damaging labour shortages”.
After commissioning a long-overdue study into the benefits of immigration, Rudd hinted that she wanted, at the very least, for foreign students to be excluded from the target. “I have commissioned the government’s independent advisers on migration to prepare reports – for the first time ever – on both the impact of free movement on the British economy and the value that international students bring to our world class university sector.”
That Rudd felt it unnecessary to reference the net migration target is a measure of May’s diminished authority. Few now believe the policy will outlast her premiership. As George Osborne helpfully observed earlier this year, no senior cabinet minister supports the target.
Rudd’s speech, sharply distinct from last year’s authoritarian address, will aid her standing among liberal Tories. Rather than avoiding the awkward fact of her minute majority (346), Rudd wisely paid tribute to those activists who got her over the line. “There is no question that you made the difference,” she said. “Without it, I wouldn’t be standing here today. Please know that I am so grateful to you for your time, and belief, and when it’s that close… as in my case 346 votes close… it gives the phrase ‘every vote counts’ a whole new meaning.”
Though some regard her vulnerability as an obstacle to any leadership bid (Labour is already targeting her Hastings seat), Rudd’s actions (she has hired Lynton Crosby’s polling firm) and words show that she does not.
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