2025 Party Conference Review
by Mia Singleton, Consultant
Conference season, we made it through! I have gathered quite the post-mortem of this year’s shifts and sentiments through catch-ups with clients and candidates. Let’s break it down.
Form at Reform
Reform UK’s conference in Birmingham drew an impressive headline number, with some reports suggesting around 10,000 attendees. But as the Financial Times noted, the crowd composition was perhaps the more interesting story: a conspicuous absence of CEOs and executive committees. Instead, journalists, consultants and public affairs professionals filled the halls. The atmosphere, by some accounts, felt curious rather than committed: politicos watching closely, corporates circling at a distance. Yet the scale and organisation indicated a clear reality: Reform has moved from fringe to fixture, and it’s clear that business is beginning to take notice.
The Tory Story
The Conservative conference told a different tale. Attendance reportedly dipped, according to figures leaked to Sky News, and even anecdotally, the familiar bustle of corporate receptions and consultancy delegations was thinner. Conversations felt smaller in scale and shorter in ambition. One candidate I spoke with described it as having a sense of “waiting for political certainty before re-engaging.” From the sidelines, it seemed like a conference in a moment of transition, reflective, perhaps, of wider uncertainty in the political landscape.
Level Labour
Labour’s gathering, by contrast, was the more polished. Gone were some of the logistical hiccups of last year; sessions ran smoothly, and the mood was generally upbeat. Even the brief swirl of speculation about an Andy Burnham leadership challenge barely made a dent. Delegates I spoke to described strong engagement opportunities, a greater sense of organisational discipline, and speeches that, while not always electrifying, were generally well received. For my clients and candidates, it felt more put-together, and several outlets, including the Institute for Government, characterised it as one of Labour’s most professional and confident conferences in recent years.
Corporate and consultancy attendance and sentiment across the conferences tells the story. Engagement seems to be shifting increasingly toward understanding Reform. Both Ed Davey and Zack Polanski referenced the party as a rising factor in the national conversation. Opposition parties, after all, shape government. If the conference circuit is a barometer of political momentum, this year’s readings suggest a system that’s recalibrating. The headlines may fade quickly, but the realignment of attention, from blue to red, with an eye on purple, looks set to last a little longer.
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